OECDmaat

OECDmaat is a term that has appeared in policy discussions as a proposed composite indicator intended to measure policy outcomes across OECD member and partner economies. As of 2025, it is not an officially defined statistic or measurement framework adopted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Concept and scope: The idea behind OECDmaat is to combine multiple dimensions—economic performance, social well-being, environmental sustainability, and governance—into a single score that reflects the effectiveness of public policy. Different proposals vary on which sub-indicators are included and how they are weighted.

Data and methodology: Advocates emphasize the need for harmonized data definitions and cross-country comparability. Potential data sources include national accounts, labor market data, health and education indicators, environmental statistics, and governance or institutional indicators. Methodological approaches range from simple additive composites to multivariate techniques such as principal component analysis or factor models.

Applications: If implemented, OECDmaat could support benchmarking, policy evaluation, and cross-country comparisons, and could complement existing OECD instruments like the Better Life Initiative or SDG-related metrics.

Criticism and challenges: Critics warn about data quality gaps, the risk of oversimplification, the difficulty of selecting appropriate weights, and potential political misuse. The lack of consensus on definitions limits comparability across countries.

See also: Better Life Initiative; Human Development Index; Sustainable Development Goals; Composite indicators.