Who Publishes, and Who Doesn't
Transparency is what makes this research possible: Americans abroad can only be counted where governments publish data about them. This page grades that transparency. The Data Visibility Index (DVI) scores every country 0–5 on how completely its official statistics cover resident Americans, across five kinds of publication. The score measures how transparent a government is, not how many Americans live there. A low score doesn't mean a small population; it means no one can know from published sources alone. Scores are published and open to challenge.
Every country is graded on one question: how much does its government publish about the Americans living there? A 0 means nothing at all; a 5 means rich annual statistics. The grade says nothing about how many Americans are there, only how visible they are in official data. A country can host a huge American community and score 0 because no one can know from published sources.
Every metric is defined in plain language on the Definitions page; how scores are set is on the Methodology page.
Transparency can improve: when a government starts publishing, or a reader points us to a dataset we missed, the score moves with the record. If a score looks wrong, the Methodology page explains how scores are set, and every score is open to challenge.
Where publication stops, asking sometimes works. Every formal information request this project has filed, including refusals and pending requests. Released data appears on country pages as badged records-request material; it never changes a score above.
| Country | Institution | Legal basis | Filed | Answered | Days | Outcome · quality (0–5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | National Directorate of Migration (DNM) | Law No. 27,275 on the Right of Access to Public Information | 2026-01-05 | 2026-05-28 | 27 days | Answered · dataset delivery pending |
| Argentina | Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship | Law No. 27,275 on the Right of Access to Public Information | 2026-01-05 | 2026-05-21 | 16 days | Released · 4.3 · meets expectations |
| Costa Rica | Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) | Constitutional Right of Access to Public Information (Articles 27 and 30 of the Constitution) | 2026-05-21 | 2026-05-28 | 5 labor days | Released · 4.85 · exceeds expectations |
| Guatemala | Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM) | Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008) | 2026-01-05 | 2026-05-11 | 7 labor days | Released · 4.85 · exceeds expectations |
| Guatemala | National Statistics Institute (INE) | Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008) | 2026-01-05 | 2026-05-11 | 7 labor days | Released · 5 · exceeds expectations |
| Guatemala | Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINEX) | Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008) | 2026-01-05 | 2026-05-13 | 9 labor days | No meaningful response · 1.15 |
| Guatemala | National Registry of Persons (RENAP) | Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008) | 2026-01-05 | 2026-05-13 | 9 labor days | Released · 4.6 · exceeds expectations |
| Philippines | Bureau of Immigration (BI) | Freedom of Information Program (Executive Order No. 2, s. 2016) | — | 2026-05 | — | Released · 4.85 · exceeds expectations |
| Philippines | Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) | Freedom of Information Program (Executive Order No. 2, s. 2016) | — | 2026-05-13 | — | Released · 4.85 · exceeds expectations |
| Philippines | Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) | Freedom of Information Program (Executive Order No. 2, s. 2016) | — | 2026-05 | — | Released · 3.1 · partially meets expectations |
| Argentina | National Registry of Persons (RENAPER) | Law No. 27,275 on the Right of Access to Public Information | 2026-01-05 | Pending | - | Pending |
| Canada | Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) | Access to Information Act R.S.C. 1985 c. A-1 (reference framework; request submitted via RD Statistics custom tabulation channel) | 2026-05-25 | Pending | — | Pending |
| Colombia | Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cancillería de Colombia) | Law 1712 of 2014 on Transparency and Access to Public Information | 2026-05-20 | Pending | — | Pending |
| Costa Rica | General Directorate of Migration and Foreign Affairs (DGME) | Constitutional Right of Access to Public Information (Articles 27 and 30 of the Constitution) | 2026-05-21 | Pending | — | Pending |
| Kenya | Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) | Access to Information Act, 2016 | 2026-05-26 | Pending | — | Pending |
| Mexico | Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) | General Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information | 2026-05-16 | Pending | — | Pending |
| Panama | National Migration Service (SNM) | Law No. 6 of 2002 on Transparency in Public Administration and Access to Information | 2026-05-21 | Pending | — | Pending |
Quality scores follow the project's response-assessment framework (completeness, disaggregation, timeliness, format). A dash means the date was not preserved at filing.
The compiled dataset behind this dashboard is published under CC BY 4.0 — free to reuse with attribution. Cite it as: American Emigration Revue, “AER Data” (2026), americanemigration.com.
Link to the dashboard or the relevant country page when citing; data and licensing questions: info@americanemigration.com.
The full series, every year, every country
The public view shows a limited year window for each series. Researchers and journalists can request access to the complete annual record for every country in the project.