Country Matrix Scoring Methodology

The Country Matrix pipeline translates raw country metrics into five factor scores, a composite ranking, and bloc-level aggregation. This page summarizes the implemented scoring rules used by the generated Quartz content.

Five Factors

  • Food
  • Energy
  • Technology
  • Demographics
  • Security

Scoring Flow

  1. Continuous metrics are normalized onto a 0-100 scale using piecewise anchors, with log1p and winsorization applied where the score spec calls for them.
  2. Weighted factor scores combine dominant, primary, and supplementary metrics while preserving missing-data confidence states.
  3. Continuous factor scores are mapped into 1-5 display bins with hysteresis so small changes do not cause constant label churn.
  4. Country composites use the geometric mean of the five display scores. This penalizes imbalance and surfaces the weakest factor directly.
  5. Bloc summaries aggregate member display scores and identify strong, weak, and uneven factor distributions.

Current Coverage Snapshot

  • Countries with full composite coverage: 142
  • Countries with partial or missing composite coverage: 53
FactorCountries With Score
Food193
Energy143
Technology191
Demographics195
Security195

Limitations

  • Countries with incomplete five-factor coverage are excluded from the overall composite ranking.
  • Promoted Phase 1 countries without a published country page still contribute to scoring and bloc aggregation, but they are not linked as Quartz leaves yet.
  • Bloc comparisons currently inherit the Phase 1 bloc dataset and should be read as a structural baseline, not a final geopolitical taxonomy.