Contents
- Access to public information statistics: legal guarantees and implementation
- Access to public information statistics: awareness and public attitudes
- Access to public information statistics: requests and channels
- Access to public information statistics: response times and disclosure
- Access to public information statistics: workload and processing
- Access to public information statistics: complaints, appeals, and oversight
- Sources
Access to public information statistics: legal guarantees and implementation
Legal recognition and practical implementation are related but distinct measures. UNESCO’s 2025 global report says that 139 countries had a legal guarantee for the right to information in 2025, compared with 14 countries in 1990. These are country counts at two points in time; they do not indicate how often people successfully obtain records or how consistently laws are applied. Source: UNESCO, Global Progress Report on Sustainable Development Goal 16, printed p. 97
The report’s account of its 2024 survey uses a different denominator: 125 participating countries and territories responded. Of those respondents, 118 confirmed a legal guarantee for access to information as a fundamental right, reported as 95%. The count and percentage describe survey participants, not every country and territory worldwide. Source: UNESCO, Global Progress Report on Sustainable Development Goal 16, printed p. 97
UNESCO also reports regional averages for a combined access-to-information implementation score measured out of 9. The scores offer a way to compare implementation dimensions within the survey framework, but they are not individual request success rates. The regional results were:
| Region | Average score (out of 9) |
|---|---|
| Africa | 6.2 |
| Arab States | 6.2 |
| Asia and the Pacific | 6.8 |
| Eastern Europe | 7.0 |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | 6.8 |
| Western Europe and North America | 6.6 |
Source: UNESCO, Global Progress Report on Sustainable Development Goal 16, printed p. 97
A further reported result connects legal design with the implementation score: countries and territories whose legal guarantees included provisions for an oversight body had an average score of 7.5 out of 9. This is a reported average for that group. It does not establish that oversight provisions alone produced the score, nor does the score describe the outcome of any one request. Source: UNESCO, Global Progress Report on Sustainable Development Goal 16, printed p. 99
Access to public information statistics: awareness and public attitudes
Scotland’s Public Awareness Research 2026 provides a view of public knowledge and opinion. Fieldwork took place in November–December 2025; the poll received 1,057 responses, weighted by gender and age to represent Scotland’s population. The reported figures are survey findings, rather than administrative records of requests. Source: Scottish Information Commissioner, “Public awareness of FOI”
In that research, 93% of respondents had heard of the FOI Act, and 93% agreed that public bodies should support people who want to access their information. The paired results describe both recognition of the law and support for assistance in using it. Awareness of the Act does not by itself show whether respondents know how to submit a request or have done so. Source: Scottish Information Commissioner, “Public awareness of FOI”
Attitudes toward FOI’s role were also favorable in the reported results: 75% felt that FOI helps prevent bad practice in public bodies, while 6% thought that FOI was a waste of public money. These are responses to distinct statements, and the figures should not be treated as complementary shares of one single-choice question. Source: Scottish Information Commissioner, “Public awareness of FOI”
Views about publication and trust show the value respondents place on information beyond individual requests. In the same Scottish research, 97% felt it was important for the public to access information from public bodies, and 94% agreed that public bodies should publish as much information as possible. Additionally, 90% said they were more likely to trust an organisation that publishes a lot of information. The results report stated attitudes; they do not measure actual publication volumes or independently assess trust in particular bodies. Source: Scottish Information Commissioner, “Public awareness of FOI”
The preferred first step for finding information was a public body’s website for 63% of respondents. On the question of who should be covered, 92% considered it important to regularly review which organisations fall under FOI, and 87% thought private organisations providing public services should have the same FOI rights as a public body providing the service. These views concern access routes and the scope of the regime, not recorded website visits or changes to the law. Source: Scottish Information Commissioner, “Public awareness of FOI”
Access to public information statistics: requests and channels
Administrative request counts show how much activity public bodies handle, but the totals here come from different systems and should be read separately. Scottish public bodies received 111,241 FOI requests in fiscal year 2025–26, compared with 98,605 in 2024–25. The Scottish Information Commissioner also received 593 FOI and Environmental Information Regulations appeals in 2024–25; that appeal count is a separate administrative measure, not another request total. Source: Scottish Information Commissioner, “Commissioner warns of FOI risk following 83% rise in appeals”
For Australian Government agencies and ministers subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982, 43,456 valid requests for access to documents were received in 2024–25. The OAIC report also records 7,290 requests on hand at the start of that year, 50,746 requiring a decision, and 13,353 withdrawn during the year. These measures have different roles in the reporting table: the starting inventory and requests requiring decisions describe workload, while withdrawals describe an outcome during the year. Source: OAIC, Annual report 2024–25, Volume 2, printed p. 2, Table 4
| Australian Government FOI measure | 2024–25 |
|---|---|
| Requests received during the year | 43,456 |
| On hand at beginning of year | 7,290 |
| Requiring decision | 50,746 |
| Withdrawn | 13,353 |
Source: OAIC, Annual report 2024–25, Volume 2, printed p. 2, Table 4
The Australian and Scottish totals are not a like-for-like comparison. They concern different jurisdictions, reporting systems, and legal frameworks. In particular, the Australian figures cover federal agencies and ministers under the federal Act, whereas the Scottish figures cover public bodies in Scotland. The counts indicate administrative scale in each setting, not a comparative propensity to request information. Sources: Scottish Information Commissioner; OAIC, Annual report 2024–25, Volume 2
Access to public information statistics: response times and disclosure
A response and a disclosure are not the same outcome. In Scotland, 97% of FOI requests made across the country received a response during 2025–26. Separately, 85% of requests to Scottish public bodies resulted in some or all information being provided when it was held. The first measure concerns receiving a response; the second concerns information provision under the stated condition. Neither figure should be interpreted as a complete disclosure rate for every request. Source: Scottish Information Commissioner, “Commissioner warns of FOI risk following 83% rise in appeals”
Australian federal response-time reporting counts decisions, rather than requests received. In 2024–25, agencies and ministers made 18,295 decisions within the applicable statutory period, reported as 73% of total requests decided. This denominator matters: the percentage is attached to decisions, not the year’s incoming requests. Source: OAIC, Annual report 2024–25, Volume 2, printed p. 10, Table 9
The Australian table distinguishes personal-information decisions from other-information decisions. Within the applicable statutory period, agencies and ministers made 11,207 personal-information decisions and 7,088 other-information decisions. These counts retain the report’s categories and should not be read as an additional total on top of the 18,295 overall count. Source: OAIC, Annual report 2024–25, Volume 2, printed p. 10, Table 9
| Australian Government decisions in 2024–25 | Total | Personal information | Other information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within applicable statutory period | 18,295 | 11,207 | 7,088 |
| More than 90 days over applicable statutory period | 2,469 | 2,189 | 280 |
The second row shows a separate late-decision band: 2,469 Australian Government decisions were made more than 90 days beyond the applicable statutory period, including 2,189 personal-information decisions and 280 other-information decisions. The report gives the overall count as 10% of total requests decided. A long-delay band describes the timing of decisions that were made; it does not count requests still awaiting a decision. Source: OAIC, Annual report 2024–25, Volume 2, printed p. 10, Table 9
Disclosure outcomes add another dimension. Australian agencies and ministers granted 5,395 decided FOI requests in full in 2024–25, reported as 21% of decided requests, and granted 13,558 in part, reported as 54%. Full and partial grants therefore account for distinct outcome categories in the report; the figures do not describe all requests received during the year. Source: OAIC, Annual report 2024–25, Volume 2, printed p. 8, Table 5
Access to public information statistics: workload and processing
Department-level figures from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) illustrate why a request total alone does not describe workload. ISED received 1,481 formal access-to-information requests in fiscal year 2024–25. Its year-end reporting also identified 712 requests received in 2024–25 that remained open at March 31, 2025: 267 were still within legislated timelines and 445 were beyond them. The 712 are a subset defined by receipt year and year-end status, not all open requests. Source: ISED, 2024–2025 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act, Annex A, §§1.1
Across all ISED formal requests carried to the next reporting period, 1,808 were carried over: 1,409 beyond legislated timelines and 399 within them. ISED closed 1,081 formal access-to-information requests during 2024–25. These figures describe the carried-over stock and the year’s closures; they have different time and status definitions and cannot be combined into a single count of requests received or completed. Source: ISED, 2024–2025 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act, Annex A, §1.1
For requests brought to conclusion in 2024–25, ISED reported 693 closed within legislated timelines, corresponding to an on-time share of 64.10%. It also reported 388 requests closed past legislated timelines. The timing measures concern closed requests, while the year-end carry-forward figures concern open requests, so each offers a different view of processing. Source: ISED, 2024–2025 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act, Annex A, §4.2
ISED’s stated principal reasons for the 388 late closures were external consultation for 148 requests, other reasons for 126, internal consultation for 70, and interference or workload for 44. These are the listed reason categories in the department’s table. They describe reported reasons attached to late closures and do not establish broader causes across other agencies or jurisdictions. Source: ISED, 2024–2025 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act, Annex A, §4.2
Completion times among ISED’s 1,081 requests closed during the fiscal year ranged across the report’s stated bands: 106 took 1–15 days; 167 took 16–30 days; 219 took 31–60 days; 220 took 61–120 days; 103 took 121–180 days; 96 took 181–365 days; and 170 took more than 365 days. The final group highlights that some requests closed in the year had been open for more than a year; it does not measure the age of requests still open at year end. Source: ISED, 2024–2025 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act, Annex A, §4.2
The department also measured document volume. In 2024–25, ISED processed 288,371 pages and disclosed 71,673 pages from formal access-to-information requests in paper and electronic-record formats. The report associates these measures with 914 requests in that table. Page counts and request counts describe different units; the page figures should not be treated as the number of requests or as a disclosure rate. Source: ISED, 2024–2025 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act, Annex A, §4.5.1
Access to public information statistics: complaints, appeals, and oversight
Appeals provide a separate view of access systems because they record cases brought to an oversight body. In Scotland, the Information Commissioner received 1,084 appeals in 2025–26, up from 593 in 2024–25. The Commissioner closed 891 appeal cases during 2025–26, of which 301 ended with a formal decision. Of those 301 decisions, 77% found wholly or partly in the requester’s favour. The reported appeal rate was 1% of FOI requests across Scotland. The rate, incoming appeals, case closures, and formal decisions are related but distinct measures with different denominators. Source: Scottish Information Commissioner, “Commissioner warns of FOI risk following 83% rise in appeals”
Australia’s review figures also distinguish decisions from applications or requests. In 2024–25, 248 Information Commissioner review decisions were made under section 55K of the FOI Act. The OAIC reported that 62% of those decisions set aside the decisions under review. This is an outcome share among review decisions, not a percentage of all FOI requests or all appeals lodged. Source: OAIC, Annual report 2024–25, Volume 2, printed p. iv
At ISED, the 2024–25 complaint table recorded 21 complaints received and 36 completed. Completed complaints can concern matters received in other periods, so the two counts need not match within one year. They describe complaints about the department’s access-to-information handling, not all Canadian federal complaints or access requests. Source: ISED, 2024–2025 Annual Report on the Access to Information Act, Annex A, §3.1
Together, these figures show why access statistics need their labels: a legal guarantee count, a survey attitude, an incoming request, an on-time decision, a disclosure outcome, a backlog, and an appeal answer different questions. Their value lies in preserving those distinctions across each jurisdiction and reporting period.