Prindex stands for the Global Property Rights Index, an indicator of citizens' perceptions of the security of land and property rights. Prindex is an initiative of ODI and Land Alliance supported by Omidyar Network, DFID and other donors. It aims to fill the gap in information about individual perception of tenure security, by creating a baseline global dataset covering more than 100 countries, to support the achievement of secure property rights around the world.
An initial phase of development of the index and testing its application was carried out in ten countries during 2016 and 2017. After the development phase, the index was turned into globalized collections in 2018. In 2019, with data added to the Gallup World Poll, Prindex expanded to a total of 141 countries worldwide. In July of 2020, Prindex released comparative results from its data collection and found that almost 1 billion people worldwide feel that they are vulnerable to losing their house or property over the next five years.
For additional information about the methodology and the questionnaire, as well as the full data are available on the new Prindex website: https://www.prindex.net/.
Source: Prindex Comparative Report, Figure 2 (p. 12,) July 2020.
Why does the Prindex data matter for the land governance community?
Property rights are a cornerstone of economic development and social justice. Data on perceptions of security of property rights are required to monitor global initiatives such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Forests and Fisheries and the Sustainable Development Goals (see indicators 1.4.2 and 5.a.1).
However, perceptions of security of tenure have never been assessed at the global level, preventing a clear understanding of the magnitude and nature of citizens' experience of security and insecurity related to crucial assets such as housing and land. Prindex addresses this gap, creating a baseline global dataset to support the achievement of secure property rights around the world.
What is the status?
In 2018, Prindex collected data from 53,000 respondents for 33 countries.
In 2019, the Prindex questionnaire module on perceptions of tenure security was included in the Gallup World Poll. Having previously published data and analysis for 33 countries, Prindex has recently released its full global dataset of 140 countries.
In July of 2020, Prindex released comparative results from its data collection.
What is the methodology?
The Prindex questionnaires measure respondents’ tenure security by posing nearly 60 questions in six core modules. In line with the efforts to build a comparable indicator for tracking progress on tenure security in the land sector, Prindex assesses perceived tenure security via a central question about people’s home, land and / or additional property:
-
In the next five years, how likely or unlikely is it that you could lose the right to use this property, or part of this property, against your will?
The survey also collects a range of additional data through the questionnaire designed to capture robust information on individuals’ tenure situation, as well as key individual and household characteristics. Since 2019, data from the World Poll is also available for Prindex to analyse other factors which are connected to perceived tenure security.
Key areas of enquiry include information on tenure rights the respondents have over their main dwelling, respondents’ perceptions of their tenure, documentation of tenure rights, benefits conferred by tenure security, tenure rights to other properties and tenure security of these, and experience of tenure insecurity and perceptions of tenure security at a national level.
For the data collection in 2019, the Prindex questionnaire module on perceptions of tenure security was included in the Gallup World Poll; the Gallup World Poll surveys were conducted either using a face-to-face questionnaire or over the telephone and respondents were selected using very similar methods to the data collection in 2017/2018. More detailed information about questionnaires and sampling strategies is available in the methodology section on the Prindex website.
What are the main results?
The Prindex Comparative Report released in July 2020 tells us how secure people feel about their land and property rights in those countries, providing a launch pad for deepening and intensifying processes of policy review and reform around the world.
The report highlights that nearly 1 billion people around the world consider it likely or very likely that they will be evicted from their land or property in the next five years. This represents nearly 1 in 5 adults in the 140 countries surveyed.
Source: Prindex Comparative Report, Figure 2 (p. 12,) July 2020.
Source: Prindex Comparative Report, Figure 5 (p. 15,) July 2020.
Selected indicators from Prindex
Related content on the Land Portal
18 Country Infographics (Prindex)
Wave 2 country infographics in one document. Countries include: Benin, Bolivia, Cambodia, Colombia, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom and Vietnam
Prindex Global Online Launch: Securing Land and Property Rights in a Post-Pandemic World
Join us for the online launch of Prindex, the world’s first global survey measuring how secure people feel in their land and property rights. Having previously published data and analysis for 33 countries, Prindex is now poised to release its full global dataset of 140 countries.
An Introduction to Prindex
The webinar An introduction to Prindex took place on 28 November, 2018. This webinar presented a basic understanding of how Prindex works. The Prindex team presented results of data collected from 15 countries. It focused on pathways for using Prindex to propel policy conversations and movement-building for policy reform with the help of panellists from some of the countries where data was collected.
Panelists were asked to address the following questions:
Prindex Comparative Report, July 2020
This paper is the culmination of over five years of work to develop and apply the methodology for measuring tenure security for land and property around the globe—Prindex. We now have the first ever comparable assessment of perceived tenure security that is truly global, with data from more than 140 countries, representing 96% of the world’s adult (18+) population, equivalent to 5.2 billion citizens. This latest round of data collection therefore presents the clearest, most definitive picture of how secure people around the world feel about their homes and property.