ARII uses 16 indicators, grouped into five dimensions, to measure how well each country and region in Africa is integrated with its neighbours.
Technical differences between ARII 2016 and ARII 2019
Indicators
Although the number of dimensions and indicators has remained the same, 2019 ARII replaced some of the indicators used in 2016:
- The AfCFTA indicator was added to the trade dimension, and the number of bilateral investment treaties in force indicator was added to the macroeconomic integration dimension.
- After a robust sensitivity analysis, the net electricity import indicator (which was recalculated as net electricity trade) was removed, as it was reducing the statistical coherence of the infrastructure dimension. Moreover, electricity is embedded in the AfDB’s Infrastructure Development Index.
- Because of unreliable and non-exhaustive data, the infrastructure dimension also shed the average cost of roaming indicator.
Weights
While ARII 2016 assigned equal weights to the indicators and dimensions, ARII 2019 assigns them different weights. ARII 2019 computes weights using principal components analysis (PCA), which determines weights using the structure of the data. PCA is widely used in building composite indexes because of its non-subjective assignment of weights. For details, consult the methodological note that accompanies this report.