OpenDataScope
Comparing Government Open Data Ecosystems
OpenDataScope compares the official open-data catalogues of North Macedonia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain, and shows the EU portal separately. North Macedonia's portal, data.gov.mk, is the central case study.
Research question: How does North Macedonia's open-data ecosystem compare with major European and international open-data portals?
In short
North Macedonia's portal lists 768 datasets with 1,605 resources from 62 active publishers. The other national portals list 20,791 to 590,168 records, counted in different units. 85.0 % of North Macedonian datasets carry a theme and 90.8 % of resources are machine-readable under the project rule. However, 33.5 % use open formats, 22.3 % of datasets carry an open-licence identifier and none appear on data.europa.eu.
North Macedonia at a glance
Datasets
768
Resources
1,605
Active publishersActive publishers132 organisations are listed on data.gov.mk. 62 of them owned at least one public dataset in the snapshot; the other 70 had none.
62
Listed organisations
132
registered on the portal, incl. 70 with no public dataset
Datasets with a theme
85.0 %
653 of 768 carry ≥ 1 EU data-theme code
How large is each national catalogue?
Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Units differ: dataset, directory record, metadata record, register record.Each portal counts a different unit, so the chart shows scale on a log axis, not equal amounts of data.
North Macedonia lists 768 datasets; the other national portals list 20,791 to 590,168 records
Canonical catalogue size per national portal · research snapshot · the unit is printed on every row
Units differ: dataset, directory record, metadata record, register record.
In words: Catalogue size on a log scale: United States 590,168 metadata records; Germany 169,074 datasets; Spain 115,980 datasets; France 74,635 datasets; United Kingdom 59,491 directory records; Netherlands 20,791 register records; North Macedonia 768 datasets.
Log scale: each gridline is 10 × the previous one
Sources: official portal APIs and page readings, S1, S2, R1, 8 October 2026, 22:21–23:03 UTC · ·
Counting differs
- North MacedoniadatasetsNorth Macedonia counts public CKAN datasets.
- United Kingdomdirectory recordsThe United Kingdom counts directory records that link to data hosted elsewhere.
- United Statesmetadata recordsThe United States counts metadata records, including restricted and non-public access levels.
- GermanydatasetsGermany's figure is the dataset-only count read on the official search page, never the all-results count.
- FrancedatasetsFrance counts datasets only; files and APIs are counted separately, and the homepage's rounded "76K" combines datasets and APIs.
- Netherlandsregister recordsThe Netherlands counts register records, including non-public and restricted entries.
- SpaindatasetsSpain's figure is the official homepage indicator, read at a recorded time because no API total exists.
The EU portal: an aggregator, not a country
1,728,623
aggregated metadata records on data.europa.eu
data.europa.eu is an aggregator of national and institutional catalogues and should not be ranked directly against national portals.
- 38 provenance values (country codes plus one "EUROPE" value)
- 27,706 records flagged as High-Value Datasets
- Largest provenance: Germany, 849,715 records (49.2 %)
- North Macedonia: 0 records (absent from the complete provenance facet)
What data exists in North Macedonia?
653 of 768 datasets (85.0 %) carry at least one theme; 115 (15.0 %) carry none.
85.0 % of North Macedonian datasets carry at least one theme
Share of 768 datasets with at least one EU data-theme code · S2 crawl
In words: 653 of 768 datasets (85.0 %) carry at least one theme; 115 (15.0 %) carry none.
- With a theme
- No theme
Source: data.gov.mk (CKAN API), S2, 2026-10-08 23:03 UTC · ·
Government and economy lead the 13 themes used in North Macedonia
Datasets per theme code, of 768 datasets · S2 crawl
In words: Datasets per theme: Government 312 (40.6 %), Economy and finance 171 (22.3 %), Regions and cities 73 (9.5 %), Agriculture and food 56 (7.3 %), Population and society 55 (7.2 %), Education, culture, sport 52 (6.8 %), Environment 39 (5.1 %), Justice and safety 32 (4.2 %), Transport 13 (1.7 %), Health 7 (0.9 %), Energy 7 (0.9 %), Science and technology 3 (0.4 %), International issues 1 (0.1 %). Themes overlap.
Theme assignments overlap because a dataset may belong to more than one theme: 821 assignments on 653 datasets. Shares are never summed.
Source: data.gov.mk (CKAN API), S2, 2026-10-08 23:03 UTC · ·
Local-government bodies publish 420 of the 768 datasets (54.7 %).
Project-defined indicatorLocal government (project rule): organisation titles beginning "Општина" (municipality) or "Град Скопје" (City of Skopje).A project rule, not an official rating or quality score.How reusable is the data?
Seven access and reuse features per portal, each with its state, its evidence layer and how far it can be compared.
States:AvailableLimitedNot reliably availableNot reliably availableThe official source gives no reliable value.Not collectedNot collectedThe value may exist, but Phase 1 did not collect it.Not comparableNot comparableA value exists but cannot sit in this comparison.Not applicableNot applicableThe concept does not apply to this portal.
Comparability:Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.
| Feature | North Macedoniadata.gov.mk | United Kingdomdata.gov.uk | United Statesdata.gov | Germanygovdata.de | Francedata.gouv.fr | Netherlandsdata.overheid.nl | Spaindatos.gob.es | European Uniondata.europa.euEU aggregator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| API availability | Available CKAN Action API, no key; organisation and group lists require POST Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. | Available CKAN Action API, no key Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. | Available Catalog API v4; API key required Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. | Available SPARQL endpoint (reported in ODM 2025) Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. | Available REST API /api/1/, no key; SPARQL available Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. | Available CKAN API v3, no key Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. | Available Linked-data API and SPARQL Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. | Available Search API and SPARQL Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. |
| Machine-readable formats | Available JSON in 0.9 % and CSV in 58.9 % of datasets; 90.78 % of resources machine-readable (project rule) Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Share of records offering at least one JSON or CSV resource: same dataset-level measure in MK and NL. | Not collected Format shares not collected; the format facet holds 353 free-text labels | Not collected | Not collected | Not collected 391,335 files counted separately; format shares not collected | Available JSON in 45.6 % and CSV in 12.0 % of records; controlled EU vocabulary (40 values) Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Share of records offering at least one JSON or CSV resource: same dataset-level measure in MK and NL. | Not collected | Not collected |
| Metadata standard | Limited DCAT-AP extension installed (mk_dcatap); record exposure not verified Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Installed extensions show capability, not use. | Not reliably available No metadata standard documented | Available DCAT-US 3.0 Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.National profile. | Not collected | Available DCAT-AP Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.European profile. | Available DCAT-AP-DONL Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.National profile of DCAT-AP. | Available DCAT-AP-ES Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.National profile of DCAT-AP. | Available DCAT-AP Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.European profile. |
| Licensing information | Limited 22.3 % carry an open-licence id; 50.8 % 'not specified'; 27.0 % none Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN license_id field in North Macedonia and the Netherlands. | Limited 37.6 % of records have any license_id; licences may sit in other fields Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Counts any licence id, not only open licences. | Not collected Licence field per record (optional); coverage not collected | Not collected | Not collected Licence per dataset; coverage not collected | Available 89.6 % carry an open-licence id Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN license_id field in North Macedonia and the Netherlands. | Not collected Licence per dataset; coverage not collected | Not collected Licence per record; coverage not collected |
| HVD information | Not applicable EU High-Value Datasets rules do not apply | Not applicable EU High-Value Datasets rules do not apply | Not applicable EU High-Value Datasets rules do not apply | Not collected Shown on the homepage but not transcribed | Available 763 datasets tagged hvd Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.A tag count on one portal; the EU portal counts flagged aggregated records. | Not collected Not in the snapshot; an earlier page reading showed 197 HVD category assignments | Not collected An HVD filter exists; the count was not collected | Available 27,706 records flagged HVD Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Aggregated records, not one national catalogue. |
| Publisher information | Available 62 active of 132 listed Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Active means owning at least one record; the UK, US and MK definitions are close but not identical. | Available 1,176 owners of indexed records (1,044 listed) Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Active means owning at least one record; the UK, US and MK definitions are close but not identical. | Available 107 active of 123 listed; federal sources hold 94.6 % of records Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Active means owning at least one record; the UK, US and MK definitions are close but not identical. | Not collected Not collected: the site disallows automated access | Limited 6,756 registered organisations; active count not collected Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Registered, not active, organisations. | Limited 26 source catalogues in the CKAN facet; data owners sit in a separate field Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Source catalogues are not publishers. | Not reliably available No publisher total on the official source | Limited 38 provenance values; catalogue count not reliably available Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Provenance values are not publishers. |
| Metadata activity | Available 33.6 % of records Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN metadata_modified query on North Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. | Available 53.0 % of records Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN metadata_modified query on North Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. | Not collected Not measured with the common CKAN query | Not collected Not measured with the common CKAN query | Not collected Not measured with the common CKAN query | Available 81.7 % of records Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN metadata_modified query on North Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. | Not collected Not measured with the common CKAN query | Not collected Not measured with the common CKAN query |
North Macedoniadata.gov.mk
- API availability
- Available
CKAN Action API, no key; organisation and group lists require POST
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. - Machine-readable formats
- Available
JSON in 0.9 % and CSV in 58.9 % of datasets; 90.78 % of resources machine-readable (project rule)
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Share of records offering at least one JSON or CSV resource: same dataset-level measure in MK and NL. - Metadata standard
- Limited
DCAT-AP extension installed (mk_dcatap); record exposure not verified
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Installed extensions show capability, not use. - Licensing information
- Limited
22.3 % carry an open-licence id; 50.8 % 'not specified'; 27.0 % none
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN license_id field in North Macedonia and the Netherlands. - HVD information
- Not applicable
EU High-Value Datasets rules do not apply
- Publisher information
- Available
62 active of 132 listed
Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Active means owning at least one record; the UK, US and MK definitions are close but not identical. - Metadata activity
- Available
33.6 % of records
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN metadata_modified query on North Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
United Kingdomdata.gov.uk
- API availability
- Available
CKAN Action API, no key
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. - Machine-readable formats
- Not collected
Format shares not collected; the format facet holds 353 free-text labels
- Metadata standard
- Not reliably available
No metadata standard documented
- Licensing information
- Limited
37.6 % of records have any license_id; licences may sit in other fields
Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Counts any licence id, not only open licences. - HVD information
- Not applicable
EU High-Value Datasets rules do not apply
- Publisher information
- Available
1,176 owners of indexed records (1,044 listed)
Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Active means owning at least one record; the UK, US and MK definitions are close but not identical. - Metadata activity
- Available
53.0 % of records
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN metadata_modified query on North Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
United Statesdata.gov
- API availability
- Available
Catalog API v4; API key required
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. - Machine-readable formats
- Not collected
- Metadata standard
- Available
DCAT-US 3.0
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.National profile. - Licensing information
- Not collected
Licence field per record (optional); coverage not collected
- HVD information
- Not applicable
EU High-Value Datasets rules do not apply
- Publisher information
- Available
107 active of 123 listed; federal sources hold 94.6 % of records
Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Active means owning at least one record; the UK, US and MK definitions are close but not identical. - Metadata activity
- Not collected
Not measured with the common CKAN query
Germanygovdata.de
- API availability
- Available
SPARQL endpoint (reported in ODM 2025)
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. - Machine-readable formats
- Not collected
- Metadata standard
- Not collected
- Licensing information
- Not collected
- HVD information
- Not collected
Shown on the homepage but not transcribed
- Publisher information
- Not collected
Not collected: the site disallows automated access
- Metadata activity
- Not collected
Not measured with the common CKAN query
Francedata.gouv.fr
- API availability
- Available
REST API /api/1/, no key; SPARQL available
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. - Machine-readable formats
- Not collected
391,335 files counted separately; format shares not collected
- Metadata standard
- Available
DCAT-AP
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.European profile. - Licensing information
- Not collected
Licence per dataset; coverage not collected
- HVD information
- Available
763 datasets tagged hvd
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.A tag count on one portal; the EU portal counts flagged aggregated records. - Publisher information
- Limited
6,756 registered organisations; active count not collected
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Registered, not active, organisations. - Metadata activity
- Not collected
Not measured with the common CKAN query
Netherlandsdata.overheid.nl
- API availability
- Available
CKAN API v3, no key
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. - Machine-readable formats
- Available
JSON in 45.6 % and CSV in 12.0 % of records; controlled EU vocabulary (40 values)
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Share of records offering at least one JSON or CSV resource: same dataset-level measure in MK and NL. - Metadata standard
- Available
DCAT-AP-DONL
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.National profile of DCAT-AP. - Licensing information
- Available
89.6 % carry an open-licence id
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN license_id field in North Macedonia and the Netherlands. - HVD information
- Not collected
Not in the snapshot; an earlier page reading showed 197 HVD category assignments
- Publisher information
- Limited
26 source catalogues in the CKAN facet; data owners sit in a separate field
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Source catalogues are not publishers. - Metadata activity
- Available
81.7 % of records
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Same CKAN metadata_modified query on North Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
Spaindatos.gob.es
- API availability
- Available
Linked-data API and SPARQL
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. - Machine-readable formats
- Not collected
- Metadata standard
- Available
DCAT-AP-ES
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.National profile of DCAT-AP. - Licensing information
- Not collected
Licence per dataset; coverage not collected
- HVD information
- Not collected
An HVD filter exists; the count was not collected
- Publisher information
- Not reliably available
No publisher total on the official source
- Metadata activity
- Not collected
Not measured with the common CKAN query
European Uniondata.europa.euEU aggregator
- API availability
- Available
Search API and SPARQL
Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.Whether a public metadata API exists is the same yes/no question everywhere; API types differ. - Machine-readable formats
- Not collected
- Metadata standard
- Available
DCAT-AP
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.European profile. - Licensing information
- Not collected
Licence per record; coverage not collected
- HVD information
- Available
27,706 records flagged HVD
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Aggregated records, not one national catalogue. - Publisher information
- Limited
38 provenance values; catalogue count not reliably available
Not directly comparableUseful background, not quantitatively comparable.Provenance values are not publishers. - Metadata activity
- Not collected
Not measured with the common CKAN query
Key findings
Six findings from the snapshot, each linked to its evidence.
- Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.
Finding 1: North Macedonia's portal lists 768 datasets. The six other national portals list between 20,791 and 590,168 records, counted in different units.
Finding 2: 85.0 % of North Macedonian datasets carry at least one EU data-theme code. Government (312 datasets) and economy (171) are the largest themes.
Finding 3: Spreadsheets dominate: XLSX and XLS make up 57.3 % of the 1,605 resources, and JSON appears in 7.
- Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.
Finding 4: 22.3 % of North Macedonian datasets carry an open-licence identifier, against 89.6 % in the Dutch register on the same CKAN field.
- Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.
Finding 5: 33.6 % of North Macedonian records had their metadata modified in the last 12 months, against 53.0 % in the UK and 81.7 % in the Netherlands on the same query.
- Directly comparableSame or closely comparable unit and query.
Finding 6: No North Macedonian records appeared on data.europa.eu in the snapshot, while the regional examples Serbia (3,527), Montenegro (917) and Albania (153) did.
What the comparison shows
Seven statements answer the research question without ranking any portal.
North Macedonia has a much smaller catalogue than the other national portals: 768 datasets against 20,791 to 590,168 records.
Partially comparableSimilar idea, but definitions or units differ.Read more
Dataset volume alone does not determine open-data maturity. Larger totals also count directory, register, restricted or non-public records, so units differ.
Machine-readable coverage is high under the project definition: 90.8 % of resources.
Spreadsheet formats dominate (57.3 % XLSX and XLS); open formats are 33.5 % of resources.
Theme coverage is broad but incomplete: 13 themes are used and 15.0 % of datasets carry none.
Licence metadata (22.3 % open-licence identifiers) and EU discoverability (0 records) are the clearest opportunities.
Portal definitions and counting practices differ internationally, so OpenDataScope compares portals only where units and queries match.