Transparency International Ukraine's Transparent Cities program presents the methodology of the European City Index. This new comprehensive study aims to show how closely the practices of Ukrainian municipalities align with European standards of good governance.

In this methodology, we explain in detail what the Euroindex assesses and how: which thematic blocks the study covers, how indicators and scores are constructed, which data sources analysts use, and how the “single point of entry” principle works. It also describes the approach to automated verification through state systems and registers, as well as the logic by which general European principles are translated into specific requirements for city councils.

In its pilot cycle, the Euroindex covered six areas of municipal governance: openness, e-services, open data, public finance, integrity, and accountability.

Analysts assessed 10 regional centers (Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kropyvnytskyi, Lutsk, Lviv, Odesa, Poltava, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, and Chernihiv) as well as Kyiv. Together, these cities represent all of Ukraine's macro-regions and a range of wartime contexts, from rear-area cities to cities designated as territories of potential hostilities. Each city could score a maximum of 100 points.

Since 2017, the Transparent Cities program has assessed Ukrainian municipalities through the Transparency Ranking of the 100 largest cities. The ranking provided a valuable overall picture, but it captured the state of affairs only once a year, relied largely on official websites and city council responses, and did not always show how convenient information or services were for people in practice. The European City Index was launched in 2025 to address precisely this need.

This research was made possible with the support of the MATRA Programme of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine. Responsibility for the content lies with the authors, and it does not necessarily reflect the official position of the Embassy.