Analyse the KOF index

The KOF index of globalisation was introduced in 2002 and covers the economic, social and political dimensions of globalisation. KOF takes into account these various factors to calculate an overall index of globalisation. These factors include actual economic flows between countries (economic), the number of international organisations (political), the number of McDonald's (social) and any more. The 2008 KOF index showed Canada and Western European to be very globalised (KOF index 80+) and Africa not very globalised (KOF index 0-40).

The positives of the KOF index include: it takes into account many factors, easy to compare between countries, data collected yearly, lots of countries (158) and data take since 1970 so can find trends. However, limitations of the KOF index include: out of date measures (such as international mail), regional variations not included, illegal immigration, smuggling and trafficking not shown and smaller countries often overrepresented.