Publishing country-year profiles before rankings
WSI is being released as a growing set of country-year profiles, not yet as a global leaderboard. Each profile reports a WSI Core figure — a conservative, lower-bound estimate of suffering from the harms and time windows currently included under WSI v1 rules.
What is published now
Country-year profiles with transparent scope statements, module breakdowns, and source-linked assumptions. WSI Core is presented first because it is the most defensible basis for future comparability.
What is not claimed yet
The current site does not claim a complete global ranking of suffering. Measured USU is a lower bound on suffering for the included modules and windows, and coverage still varies across published profiles.
Profiles
Featured profile first, then a pilot archive. Homepage presentation is intentionally restrained: Core only, rounded, and paired with scope context.
Flood, health, and food-security profile built under conservative defaults. Presented here as a pilot archive profile under the current WSI v1 methodology.
Earthquake-related displacement and injury profile kept as a methodology pilot pending additional harmonization.
Country-year profile with dengue, malaria, measles, displacement, and acute food insecurity under lower-bound rules.
Typhoon/disaster displacement plus selected WHO-tracked health modules. Presented here as a pilot archive profile under the current WSI v1 methodology.
How to read WSI
These profiles are published with explicit scope and lower-bound interpretation so readers can understand what is and is not included.
WSI Core
The primary public figure. It is the most conservative, most comparable layer of the system and is the only number recommended for cautious cross-profile reading.
WSI Extended
A broader measured total that includes optional modules. It is useful for within-profile interpretation, but it is not the default public comparison number while coverage still differs across countries.
Scope statement
Every profile should state what was included, what windows were used, and what major omissions remain. Measured USU is always interpreted as a lower bound on suffering for the included harms and time windows.
How to read these profiles
- WSI Core is shown as the primary public figure because it is the most conservative and most comparable part of the current release
- Older country-years are presented in the Pilot Archive to show how the framework has been applied across different contexts
- Cross-country comparisons should be made cautiously and only when scope and coverage are sufficiently similar
- Sources and supporting materials are added alongside profiles as they are prepared for public release
Methodology and release approach
WSI uses the Universal Suffering Unit (USU) as a calibrated, additive unit. Country-year profiles are being published gradually as they reach a level of source transparency and methodological consistency suitable for public release.
How to interpret current releases
- Current releases should be read as conservative, lower-bound profiles for the included harms and time windows
- Each profile is accompanied by a scope statement describing what is included and what remains outside the current headline
- Source transparency and methodological consistency are part of how WSI is presented
- Broader ranking or league-table interpretation is not the focus of the current release stage
Release approach
WSI is being published incrementally as country-year profiles reach a level of source transparency and methodological consistency suitable for public release. Future additions will expand the set of published profiles while maintaining the same emphasis on conservative interpretation, clear scope statements, and auditable sourcing.