The fallacy of international rankings

WHEN political are positive the “winners” trumpet the results from the rooftops. The others question the validity of the polls. The same goes for international indices and rankings.
A country in the top percentile boasts of its “achievements. If it is favorable, the country’s leaders are fulsome in their praise of the source, otherwise, they ignore the results.
But CentralAmericaData has come out with a strongly worded editorial on “The Fallacy of International Indices and Rankings.”
It reads:
What is Costa Rica's actual position in the world in terms of environmental quality? Is it in fifth place as it was assigned two years ago by Yale University, or 54th as now assigned by the same "scholars"?
A country cannot jump in two years from 5th place to 54th place in the world in terms of environmental quality, as happened to Costa Rica according to the Environmental Performance Index from Yale University.
 Because there is such an excessive difference, one result invalidates the other and ridicules those who sign these reports and the institution that pays them for their work. The explanation for the difference, that is due to the incorporation of new concepts and categories into the index, is not acceptable, and leads us to reason that if the 2012 index on Environmental Performance by Yale was so grossly wrong – it did not include wastewater treatment – why should we now believe that the position 54 which has been assigned to Costa Rica is right? It is more likely that both ratings are far from reality.

At CentralAmericaData.COM we have set ourselves the task to bring to businesspeople with interests in Central America, the best possible information in order to shine a light on their business decisions. It is extremely hard work given the lack of or irregularity of the data provided by public institutions in the region, and the lack of rigor with which the press on the isthmus publishes and broadcasts news without proper verification of its reliability. Added to this is the impudence with which officials sitting at remote desks in the capitals of the developed world, express their opinion on what is happening in our countries.

We should be critical of indices, rankings, reports and analysis on the situation in Central America which are published around the world. Most of them are wrong.