The ND-GAIN Country Index is composed of two key dimensions of adaptation: vulnerability and readiness.
Measures a country's exposure, sensitivity and capacity to adapt to the negative effects of climate change. ND-GAIN measures overall vulnerability by considering six life-supporting sectors – food, water, health, ecosystem service, human habitat, and infrastructure.
EXPOSURE: Degree to which a system is exposed to significant climate change from a biophysical perspective. It is a component of vulnerability independent of socio economic context. Exposure indicators are projected impacts for the coming decades and are therefore invariant overtime in ND-GAIN.
SENSITIVITY: Extent to which a country is dependent upon a sector negatively affected by climate hazard, or the proportion of the population particularly susceptible to a climate change hazard. A country's sensitivity can vary over time.
ADAPTIVE CAPACITY: Availability of social resources for sector-specific adaptation. In some cases, these capacities reflect sustainable adaptation solutions. In other cases, they reflect capacities to put newer, more sustainable adaptations into place. Adaptive capacity also varies over time.
Measures a country’s ability to leverage investments and convert them to adaptation actions. ND-GAIN measures overall readiness by considering three components – economic readiness, governance readiness and social readiness.
ECONOMIC: Captures the ability of a country's business environment to accept investment that could be applied to adaptation that reduces vulnerability (reduces sensitivity and improves adaptive capacity).
GOVERANCE: Captures the institutional factors that enhance application of investment for adaptation.
SOCIAL: Captures the factors such as social inequality, ICT infrastructure, education and innovation that enhance the mobility of investment and promote adaptation actions.
A country's ND-GAIN Score is composed of a vulnerability score and a readiness score:
Climate vulnerability and adaptation readiness are based on compiled indicators. Thirty-six indicators contribute to ND-GAIN's measure of vulnerability and nine indicators contribute to the measure of readiness. An explanation of each indicator and their data sources can be viewed on the Indicators page.