experience an absolute decline in the “statistical capacity index”- an index of data transparency (Arezki et al. 2020). More data transparency may improve political trust and create more social cohesion. Releasing micro data to the public requires balancing two fundamental principles of statistics: confidentiality and access. An agency not committed to data transparency could argue (erroneously) that privacy considerations –captured in every Statistics Act, prevent it from releasing anonymized micro data.

To assess access to microdata we take the perspective of an everyday data user and visit the public facing websites of all National Statistical Offices (NSOs) in the MENA region as well as microdata libraries maintained by the World Bank, International Household Survey Network (IHSN), IPUMS and Eurostat. We also visit the web-portals of the MICS and DHS surveys. Though, as World Bank staff, we often already have access as part of our official duties, we opt to follow a ‘mystery client approach’ and explore which data can be accessed through public channels. We verify if up to date microdata across several data categories is available for download either immediately or after a request is made by the user.

Informed by this exercise, we do two things. First, we make suggestions aimed at improving NSOs’ ability to provide up to date microdata online. Second, we present a new Microdata Access Indicator (MAI) that measures the degree of openness of available microdata across MENA countries and the degree to which microdata users can <mark>access, understand, and navigate the websites of MENA NSOs.</mark> The new MENA MAI provides insights on microdata accessibility in MENA and complements the Open Data Access Indicator (ODIN)<sup>3</sup> published by Open Data Watch that focuses on NSOs’ ability to provide access to produced statistics and indicators (as opposed to anonymized raw data). Together, both the MENA MAI and the ODIN provide a robust picture of data accessibility in MENA and can over time serve as a useful tool for NSOs and development partners to measure the development of the statistical system and advocate for greater data transparency. They can also be used to encourage dialogue between NSOs, development partners and data users. The findings from the MENA MAI demonstrate that many microdata sets are out of date or not collected at all. Since one cannot publish what is not collected, we strongly advocate for additional investments in microdata collection as well as publication of the data. The findings also show that there is room for improvement with regards to the outlook of the websites of many MENA NSOs – NSOs should make microdata libraries and updated survey calendars a standard feature of their websites so that microdata users do not spend unnecessary time searching for available microdata.

The rest of the paper is structured as follows: the next section explores in greater depth the intersection between public trust in official statistics and data transparency. Section 3 describes the exercise of visiting MENA NSOs’ websites, discusses the results from the exercise and offers

> 3 Open Data Watch - Open Data Inventory http://www.opendatawatch.com

3