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Insider Monkey Global Financial Development Index

Insider Monkey Global Financial Development Index

Index Methodology

To create the Insider Monkey Global Financial Development Index, we aimed to focus on the overall size and development of countries’ domestic equity markets and domestic debt markets. For measuring the size of equity markets, we relied on country-wise total market capitalization of domestically listed companies. For measuring the size of debt markets, we first looked for standardized data for the dollar value of domestic debt markets.

We noticed how everyone else values debt markets based on International Debt Statistics from the Bank for International Settlements. This does not indicate the value of a country’s domestic bond market. Example: if a company from Country A comes to Country B and sells $1 billion of debt, that debt should count towards the size of the financial market of Country B, not Country A.

Due to limitations for standardized data on the exact dollar value of domestic bond markets, we decided to instead use the external debt position of countries as a proxy for the size and sophistication of the fixed-income markets in each country.

Therefore, our indicators were:

Indicator 1: Total market capitalization of domestically listed companies in each country.

Indicator 2: External debt position of each country.

To find data for indicator 1, we first used the stock market capitalization data of countries, as of March 2024, from the S&P Global BMI Index. To expand our list to account for missing countries, we used the World Bank database of Market Capitalization of Domestically Listed Companies. Then, we also looked up other sources on the web including the official websites of stock exchanges, media reports, CEIC Data, and the Sustainable Stock Exchanges website to include as many countries with missing or outdated data on the World Bank. We compiled a final list of 112 countries.

To find data for indicator 2, we initially sourced our data from the Gross External Debt Position database, as of December 2023. Then, we used data from the International Monetary Fund, Trading Economics, GlobalEconomy, and CEIC Data for missing countries in the database.

Finally, we ordered lists in descending order of both our indicators separately and calculated a given country’s rank on each indicator by dividing its position by the total number of countries for both metrics. Then, we averaged these scores to calculate the Insider Monkey Global Financial Development Index for each country. For countries with missing data for one of our indicators, as indicated by N/A, we ranked them by their individual indicator scores.

Please note that a lower index value represents a country with a bigger financial market since it ranked higher on both our indicators, i.e. had a bigger equity market and a larger debt position.

The table below presents 141 countries in ascending order of their Insider Monkey Global Financial Development Index values.

Rank

Countries External Debt Insider Monkey External Debt Score Stock Market Capitalization Insider Monkey Stock Market Score Insider Monkey Global Financial Development Index

1

United States 25984649 0.008 54078877.2 0.008929 0.009

2

Japan 4456564 0.04 6652919.58 0.026786 0.034

3

United Kingdom 9643779 0.016 3171898.5 0.053571 0.035

4

France 7642550 0.024 3323439.12 0.044643 0.035

5

Germany 6750685 0.032 2296883.99 0.080357 0.057

6

China 2447537 0.096 11525922.58 0.017857 0.057

7

Canada 3130376 0.072 2669570.86 0.071429 0.072

8

Netherlands 3867710 0.048 1096161.2 0.133929 0.091

9

Switzerland 2282266 0.104 1967596.85 0.098214 0.102

10

India 648192 0.192 4434188.91 0.035714 0.114

11

Italy 2805349 0.08 956407.5 0.151786 0.116

12

Australia 1616561 0.128 1650034.55 0.116071 0.123

13

Spain 2673153 0.088 765365.72 0.178571 0.134

14

Korea 663631 0.176 1840026.29 0.107143 0.142

15

Sweden 1042834 0.144 972810 0.142857 0.144

16

Hong Kong 1838743 0.12 661125.8 0.1875 0.154

17

Brazil 732655 0.168 910975.91 0.160714 0.165

18

Saudi Arabia 299764 0.272 2878407 0.0625 0.168

19

Singapore 1997003 0.112 446127.35 0.232143 0.173

20

Ireland 3144324 0.064 245420.84 0.303571 0.184

21

Denmark 539647 0.216 796440.13 0.169643 0.193

22

Belgium 1530078 0.136 332055.19 0.267857 0.202

23

Norway 768871 0.16 341121.4 0.25 0.205

24

Mexico 593996 0.208 482714.87 0.223214 0.216

25

Taiwan 206499 0.344 2128320.51 0.089286 0.217

26

Indonesia 407107 0.248 578438.93 0.196429 0.223

27

United Arab Emirates 389250 0.256 551729.16 0.205357 0.231

28

Russia 316847 0.264 530104 0.214286 0.24

29

Finland 659798 0.184 244343.19 0.3125 0.249

30

Luxembourg 3787134 0.056 47020.35 0.446429 0.252

31

Turkey 499886 0.224 273876.16 0.294643 0.26

32

Austria 784074 0.152 120803.03 0.366071 0.26

33

Malaysia 270616 0.304 333057.83 0.258929 0.282

34

Poland 426901 0.24 171074 0.330357 0.286

35

Thailand 193212 0.368 420955.44 0.241071 0.305

36

Greece 610875 0.2 84656.9 0.410714 0.306

37

Qatar 290071 0.28 147381.78 0.357143 0.319

38

Portugal 441332 0.232 75563.06 0.419643 0.326

39

Chile 240968 0.312 117833.77 0.375 0.344

40

South Africa 158081 0.416 283821.96 0.285714 0.351

41

Israel 154696 0.424 301359.82 0.276786 0.351

42

New Zealand 223599 0.32 86878.28 0.401786 0.361

43

Argentina 285951 0.288 52940 0.4375 0.363

44

Vietnam 144858 0.432 170150 0.339286 0.386

45

Philippines 125394 0.456 183471.26 0.321429 0.389

46

Hungary 279808 0.296 26659.01 0.526786 0.412

47

Colombia 196360 0.352 42404.61 0.473214 0.413

48

Czechia 206570 0.336 30401.76 0.491071 0.414

49

Peru 94055 0.464 102707.02 0.383929 0.424

50

Kazakhstan 162697 0.4 46000 0.455357 0.428

51

Kuwait 57213 0.528 153000 0.348214 0.439

52

Romania 187942 0.384 28980 0.508929 0.447

53

Morocco 69169 0.488 53710 0.428571 0.459

54

Egypt 168034 0.392 20106.3 0.553571 0.473

55

Pakistan 131159 0.44 28710 0.517857 0.479

56

Iran 6282 0.84 1613000 0.125 0.483

57

Bahrain 88147 0.472 30260 0.5 0.486

58

Bangladesh 57630 0.52 42890 0.464286 0.493

59

Slovakia 130239 0.448 20106.3 0.553571 0.501

60

Nigeria 41595 0.608 91440 0.392857 0.501

61

Mauritius 194476 0.36 8560 0.669643 0.515

62

Croatia 70718 0.48 19330 0.5625 0.522

63

Cyprus 189725 0.376 6530 0.705357 0.541

64

Ecuador 60764 0.512 19230 0.571429 0.542

65

Oman N/A N/A 22270 0.544643 0.545

66

Malta 221852 0.328 4358 0.785714 0.557

67

Angola 50260 0.56 N/A N/A 0.56

68

Jordan 41131 0.616 25430 0.535714 0.576

69

Kenya 46020 0.584 16110 0.589286 0.587

70

Slovenia 64024 0.496 8170 0.678571 0.588

71

Bulgaria 50182 0.568 15700 0.607143 0.588

72

Ukraine 161533 0.408 4420 0.776786 0.593

73

Sri Lanka 54832 0.536 10590 0.651786 0.594

74

Guatemala N/A N/A 16010 0.598214 0.598

75

Panama N/A N/A 15630 0.616071 0.616

76

Uzbekistan 60961 0.504 5190 0.741071 0.623

77

Iraq N/A N/A 14500 0.625 0.625

78

Dominican Republic 39837 0.632 N/A N/A 0.632

79

Jamaica N/A N/A 13000 0.633929 0.634

80

Lithuania 54403 0.544 5460 0.732143 0.639

81

Slovakia N/A N/A 11400 0.642857 0.643

82

Lebanon 40419 0.624 10560 0.660714 0.643

83

Iceland 22509 0.704 17980 0.580357 0.643

84

Tunisia 42191 0.6 7750 0.6875 0.644

85

Mongolia 34570 0.664 N/A N/A 0.664

86

Serbia 48859 0.576 4730 0.758929 0.668

87

Tanzania 32679 0.672 N/A N/A 0.672

88

Estonia 37562 0.64 5570 0.723214 0.682

89

Georgia 24169 0.696 N/A N/A 0.696

90

Cote d'Ivoire N/A N/A 7330 0.696429 0.696

91

Ghana 29185 0.688 6460 0.714286 0.702

92

Nicaragua 15256 0.736 N/A N/A 0.736

93

El Salvador 22048 0.712 4690 0.767857 0.74

94

Uruguay 51905 0.552 655 0.928571 0.741

95

Botswana 147.18 1 31020 0.482143 0.742

96

Trinidad And Tobago 32515 0.68 3890 0.8125 0.747

97

Bahamas N/A N/A 5089 0.75 0.75

98

Bolivia 13408 0.752 N/A N/A 0.752

99

Belarus 36875 0.656 2490 0.848214 0.753

100

Costa Rica 37499 0.648 2230 0.875 0.762

101

North Macedonia 12666 0.768 N/A N/A 0.768

102

Latvia 42789 0.592 640 0.946429 0.77

103

Macedonia 11463 0.784 N/A N/A 0.784

104

Albania 10922.18 0.792 N/A N/A 0.792

105

Moldova 10466 0.8 N/A N/A 0.8

106

Venezuela N/A N/A 3970 0.803571 0.804

107

Laos 10235 0.808 N/A N/A 0.808

108

Zimbabwe 13325 0.76 2460 0.857143 0.809

109

Zambia 7925 0.832 4040 0.794643 0.814

110

Kyrgyz Republic 10114 0.816 N/A N/A 0.816

111

Azerbaijan 15277 0.728 1470 0.910714 0.82

112

Montenegro N/A N/A 3880 0.821429 0.821

113

Honduras 11569 0.776 2080 0.892857 0.835

114

Barbados N/A N/A 2780 0.839286 0.839

115

Rwanda 6256 0.848 3440 0.830357 0.84

116

Armenia 15464 0.72 252 0.982143 0.852

117

Namibia 9368 0.824 2158 0.883929 0.854

118

Paraguay 14338.58 0.744 152 1 0.872

119

Congo 5659 0.872 N/A N/A 0.872

120

Burkina Faso 5330 0.88 N/A N/A 0.88

121

Seychelles 6219 0.856 1215 0.919643 0.888

122

Bosnia and Herzegovina 4869.304 0.888 N/A N/A 0.888

123

Maldives 3740 0.92 2270 0.866071 0.894

124

Turkmenistan 4509.485 0.896 N/A N/A 0.896

125

Papua New Guinea N/A N/A 1681 0.901786 0.902

126

Mauritania 4320 0.904 N/A N/A 0.904

127

Kosovo 4244 0.912 N/A N/A 0.912

128

Tajikistan 6170 0.864 286 0.964286 0.915

129

Bhutan 3213 0.928 N/A N/A 0.928

130

West Bank and Gaza 1850 0.936 N/A N/A 0.936

131

Cayman Islands N/A N/A 644 0.9375 0.938

132

Guyana 1627.367 0.944 N/A N/A 0.944

133

Malawi 1622.94 0.952 N/A N/A 0.952

134

Algeria N/A N/A 371 0.955357 0.955

135

Belize 1363 0.96 N/A N/A 0.96

136

Liberia 1252 0.968 N/A N/A 0.968

137

Nepal N/A N/A 262 0.973214 0.973

138

Lesotho 978.9 0.976 N/A N/A 0.976

139

Eswatini 859.59 0.984 N/A N/A 0.984

140

Bermuda N/A N/A 207 0.991071 0.991

141

Burundi 640.09 0.992 N/A N/A 0.992

Note: Stock Market Capitalization and External Debt Data is represented in million USD.

Index Creator: This index is created by Inan Dogan, PhD. Inan Dogan has more than 20 years of experience researching and investing in the financial markets.  Dr. Dogan is the co-founder and research director of Insider Monkey. He has a Ph.D. in financial economics from University at Buffalo and he has been doing quantitative stock research focusing on insider trading and hedge fund portfolio disclosures.

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