Postal Development Report 2022

2022 POSTAL
DEVELOPMENT
REPORT
Postal journey towards
a sustainable future
Published by the Universal Postal Union (UPU)
Berne, Switzerland
Printed in Switzerland by the printing services

of the UPU International Bureau
Copyright © 2022 Universal Postal Union

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publication is owned by the Universal Postal Union.
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AUTHORS: Dr José Anson, UPU Economist | Saleh Khan,

Programme Manager | Siva Somasundram, Director of
Policy, Regulation and Markets
TITLE: 2022 Postal Development Report - Postal journey

towards a sustainable future, 2022
ISBN: 978-92-95116-26-9
DESIGN: Sonja Denovski
CONTACT: info@upu.int
2022 POSTAL
DEVELOPMENT
REPORT
Postal journey towards
a sustainable future
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Global 2IPD score distribution......................................................................................................................9
Figure 2 Growth trends and forecasts for domestic letter and parcel post 2019–2022.............................10
Figure 3 Statistical relationships between letter post and parcel post..........................................................12
Figure 4 2021 2IPD scores by region..........................................................................................................................21
Figure 5 Global postal development level distribution by region......................................................................22
Figure 6 Distribution of 2021 2IPD scores by region.............................................................................................26
Figure 7 2021 postal development catch-up countries...................................................................................... 30
Figure 8 Postal development and reliability catch-up........................................................................................ 30
Figure 9 Average delivery time per region over time...........................................................................................31
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 UPU postal development levels..................................................................................................................15
Table 2 Postal development levels and their corresponding 2IPD scores....................................................15
Table 3 The 4Rs of the 2IPD........................................................................................................................................16
Table 4 Reliability catch-up stars............................................................................................................................32
Table of contents
Executive summary.................................................................................................................. 6
Introduction................................................................................................................................ 8
Latest trends in the global postal sector.........................................................................10
Global letter-post volume declines are easing.............................................................. 11
Letter-post losses from higher parcel-post gains are non-linear.............................. 11
Measuring global postal development: (re)introducing

the 2IPD methodology.............................................................................................................. 13
Challenges of a global “like for like” comparison..................................................................13
Incremental, achievable levels of development – not a race to the top......................14
A transparent, equitable and inclusive index for measuring postal progress...........14
Peer group approach to analyzing 2IPD scores.....................................................................18
Postal development levels across regions and countries................................................ 20

Nearly half the countries achieved moderate or low 2IPD scores..................................20
Global reliability score distribution.............................................................................................23
Global reach score distribution....................................................................................................23
Global relevance score distribution............................................................................................24
Global resilience score distribution............................................................................................ 24
Postal development gaps between regions and countries:

a distribution analysis........................................................................................................................... 25
Postal sector leaders............................................................................................................................. 27
Leaders in postal excellence..........................................................................................................27
Regional champions......................................................................................................................... 28
Postal development convergence worldwide: a catch-up assessment.................. 29

Green postal development: 2IPD insights
for better postal emissions measurement............................................................................... 33
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................... 35
List of annexes.......................................................................................................................................... 36
Annex 1 Postal development levels (PDLs) – country and regional breakdown..............37
Annex 2 2IPD results across postal development levels (PDLs)..............................................38
Annex 3 2IPD 4R components – regional distribution...............................................................49
Annex 4 Postal reach, relevance and resilience “catch up” scores........................................53
Annex 5 Postal carbon footprint by 2IPD sub-scores on reliability,
reach and relevance.............................................................................................................. 55
Bibliography................................................................................................................................................. 58
Disclaimers.................................................................................................................................................. 58
Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................ 58
6 | 2022 Postal Development Report
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
The 2021 Integrated Index for Postal Development (2IPD) A majority of countries were able to
provides the most comprehensive view on current global make progress, at varying speeds,
postal development.
towards matching the performance of
Relying on a unique combination of postal big data and the best-in-class postal operators. Six
statistics made available by 172 countries, it paints a picture countries achieved the highest level
of an asymmetric state of postal development across the
of postal excellence – Austria, China
world.
(People’s Rep.), France, Germany, Japan
Based on the analysis of 2IPD scores, we have peer and Switzerland – with the highest 2IPD
grouped and categorized countries into 10 postal score going to Switzerland for the sixth
development levels. A clustering analysis reveals that a
consecutive year.
relatively large number of countries are classified in low
or lower-middle postal development groups, highlighting
significant postal service development gaps between
Some countries are progressing faster
nations.
than others. Armenia, Egypt and Estonia
The key takeaways of the 2022 Postal Development Report achieved record 2IPD score progressions
are as follows: in 2021. Other regional champions
such as Saudi Arabia, Cameroon and
2021 was a relatively positive year for Colombia made significant advances,
postal development worldwide. Quality and even leapfrogged, in terms of postal
of service has substantially improved development levels.
since postal services were hit by the
waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, postal development
in terms of reliability, reach, relevance
Structural declines in domestic and resilience remains skewed towards
letter-post volumes are slowing lower postal development levels thereby
down for the first time in a decade generating challenges across the
and domestic parcel post is pursuing global postal network in the provision
its steady growth. Many designated of international postal services.
operators should benefit from This underscores the intuition that the
profitability increases in these postal network is only as strong as its
circumstances as well. weakest link.
Postal journey towards a sustainable future | 7
International postal connectivity was

negatively impacted in 2021 even
leaving some countries relatively
disconnected from the rest of the global
postal network. This could eventually
undermine its value proposition, since
universal access to international logistics
services is critical in a time of continuous
cross-border e-commerce growth.
The relevance of postal services should

be further strengthened. Many countries
ought to revisit their postal business
model and quickly adapt it to the
needs of the next generation of postal
customers. Commercial success can be
exponential if action is taken at the right
time in the right direction.
Progress can only be built in a

sustainable way to preserve our planet.
Reducing the postal carbon footprint
will be essential to stay on a successful
postal development path in the coming
decade. In this respect, the 2IPD
components can provide insights for
the preparation of mitigation plans to
avoid negative environmental impacts
of postal activities.
Finally, greater progress by all and for all

is only feasible if UPU member countries
intensify their level of collaboration in
the area of data sharing and, together,
deliver the power of collective postal
intelligence as a global public good.
INTRODUCTION
Posts are some of the most essential engines for response to climate change. A data-driven strategy is
sustainable growth and inclusion in today’s global digital essential to substantially mitigate and ultimately eliminate
economies. Every day, more than five million postal the postal carbon footprint. The 2IPD can fill critical data
employees worldwide contribute to building a prosperous, gaps in measuring global postal emissions and contribute
inclusive and equitable future for all of us. to helping less advanced postal operators better measure
their carbon footprint and set ambitious emission reduction
In 2020 and 2021, the global postal infrastructure played goals.
a critical role by enabling governments to better respond
to COVID-19 pandemic challenges. Postal resilience – the As the global postal network is only as strong as its weakest
strongest component of the Integrated Index for Postal link, this year’s Postal Development Report represents a call
Development, or 2IPD – defined the postal network during for governments to renew their commitment to the global
this time and reinforced its role in enabling a modern, postal network and empower their designated operators
equitable society. (DOs) to become best-in-class providers of postal services.
Postal resilience, for serving society beyond times of crisis,

needs to have at its foundation modern and reliable postal
services that better connect different parts of the world.
Posts need to be resilient by leveraging new business
This year’s Postal
models and meeting the needs of a wider variety of
customer types and demographics. The next generation
Development Report
of postal services was probably born during the COVID-19
crisis, and the sector has already embarked on its next
postal development journey.
represents a call for
However, not all Posts are on an equal footing at the start
of this new journey. As mapped by the 2IPD scores, (Figure
governments to renew
1) a large postal divide exists between countries. We find
asymmetries in postal development levels for three out of
their commitment to
the four main components of the 2IPD index – the postal
reliability, reach and relevance dimensions. the global postal network
Not all news is bad. We find that some postal operators are
already leapfrogging their way towards the next generation and empower their
of postal services. They have made great advances in
postal development scores, underpinned by bold changes
in their business and operational models. These resilient,
designated operators
forward-looking Posts have adapted to their national
development circumstances and are paving the way for (DOs) to become best-
their country’s socio-economic development success.
As one can only improve what can be measured, the 2IPD

in-class providers of
aims to deliver a data-driven roadmap for postal success
worldwide. postal services.
Increased data sharing with all postal sector stakeholders
will further improve the quality of postal development
measurement, thereby strengthening the collective value
delivered by Posts in the digital economy and society. Data
sharing is particularly important to enable the sector’s
Figure 1: Global 2IPD score distribution
2IPD score (2021)

2021 2IPD MAP
© 2022 Mapbox ©OpenStreetMap 0 100
LATEST TRENDS IN THE

GLOBAL POSTAL SECTOR
Derived from a combination of 2021 postal big data induced lockdowns despite extensive vaccination
and 2020 postal statistics, the 2021 UPU 2IPD scores campaigns in many countries. Our data analysis is
evaluate the state of postal development across the world. pointing to a partial return to pre-pandemic online
shopping growth trends in several countries. Under these
We present the 2021 2IPD scores in the context of a very circumstances, we present recent key insights from UPU
fast-evolving global digital economy environment. Over the postal statistics and economic research. These insights will
course of the last two years, global consumer behaviour provide the context for interpreting the latest 2IPD results.
was heavily influenced by several waves of COVID-19-
Figure 2: Growth trends and forecasts for domestic letter and parcel post 2019–2022
Source: Universal Postal Union, 2022

GLOBAL LETTER-POST
LETTER-POST LOSSES FROM HIGHER
VOLUME DECLINES PARCEL-POST GAINS
ARE EASING ARE NON-LINEAR
According to our most recent estimations, global postal After modelling and analyzing pre- and post-pandemic
revenues stemming from parcels and logistics have changes in domestic letter-post and parcel-post volumes
reached a tipping point where they are larger than letter- between 2019 and 2021, we find that there is a median loss
post revenues for the first time as recorded in 147 years of of 8.8 letters for each additional domestic parcel-post item
UPU postal statistics. sent during this period.
With steady e-commerce growth driven by COVID-19 This means that for each extra parcel delivered as a result
restrictions, global domestic parcel volumes increased by of the change in online shopping behaviours, 8.8 letters
33.6% between 2019 and 2021. The highest year-on-year are lost, or equivalently, a postal revenue loss can be
growth rate ever recorded for the domestic parcel-post expected if the average price for a domestic parcel-post
stream in UPU postal statistics was achieved in 2020, with item is not 8.8 times the average price for a domestic
a 17.6% increase globally; this growth continued into 2021, letter-post item at least.
with 13.6% year-on-year growth – well above the pre-
pandemic 7.5% yearly growth trend (See Figure 2). However, our analysis has identified a remarkable, new,
non-linear statistical relationship between letter-post
Unless macroeconomic conditions further worsen, we decline and parcel-post growth.
forecast domestic parcel-post volumes to reach high
single-digit annual growth rates in main markets in 2022, The non-linear trend begins with an inverse relationship,
consistent with a global forecasted parcel volume growth where the higher the number of additional parcels per
rate of approximately 7.5%. capita, the higher the loss in terms of letter volumes per
capita (see Figure 3). The reason for this was that gains
As expected with the huge economic slowdown, global in parcels per inhabitant also captured the acceleration
domestic letter-post volumes recorded an overall decline in digitalization of the economy and the resulting
of 13.6% between 2019 and 2021 – a record in mail e-commerce growth during the pandemic.
volume losses in the current century. However, the volume
increased marginally, by 0.5%, over 2021 compared with However, once a critical threshold value was reached in
the previous year – representing the single largest increase terms of lost letter items per parcel gained, the statistical
in the last 15 years. relationship between the two variables became negative –
after an estimated seven additional domestic parcel-post
We forecast a small single-digit decline for 2022, around items per inhabitant, the declines in domestic letters per
0.3% below the pre-pandemic 2.8% yearly decline trend. capita were decreasing.
From our analysis, direct marketing and advertising mail
seems to have started its recovery, signalled by 4% year- Almost no further loss in letter-post volumes occurred
on-year growth between 2020 and 2021, thus continuing once the increase in parcel-post items reached the
to help stem letter-post volume declines brought about by estimated threshold of 15 additional parcels per capita. In
the negative impacts of digital substitution on commercial 2021, we observed that the largest letter-post markets in
letter-post transactions. the world were close to this turning point and could soon
benefit from an easing of their letter volume declines.
Under these conditions, we anticipate that global postal

profitability might improve, since the steady growth in
parcel volumes would not be partially offset by the letter-
post volume and revenue losses anymore.
Figure 3: Statistical relationships between letter post and parcel post
In 2021, we observed that

the largest letter-post markets
in the world were close to a
turning point and could soon
benefit from an easing of their
letter volume declines.
MEASURING GLOBAL
POSTAL DEVELOPMENT:
(RE)INTRODUCING
THE 2IPD METHODOLOGY
CHALLENGES OF A
Fifth, postal executives and policymakers may have
different views about what really constitute postal progress
and success stories in their respective countries.
GLOBAL “LIKE FOR Sixth, postal sector boundaries may also change from
country to country, with governments framing their
LIKE” COMPARISON regulatory approach in different ways.
And finally, the postal debate is sometimes dominated by

subjective views that tend to overlook efforts to achieve
Postal development levels are heterogeneous and difficult data-driven policies. For all these reasons, measuring
to measure by nature. Measuring the levels of global postal development will always remain an imperfect yet
postal development is a true challenge that stems from most needed and useful exercise.
multiple causes. To start with, postal business models
vary considerably across the world, which makes sensible The UPU’s 2IPD methodology enables the creation of
international comparisons more difficult than in other a composite index that comprises critical factors for
industries. successful postal development – irrespective of the
structural differences in postal policies and economic
Second, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to models between countries.
achieve postal development gains, given the differing
circumstances between developing and developed nations The 2IPD highlights the most striking differences in postal
– each with their own postal service cultures and ways of achievements within and between UPU regions and
organizing their postal market. countries, in turn facilitating more meaningful comparisons
that consider the various stages of network development. It
Third, the availability of official postal statistics is incomplete also strengthens the UPU postal statistics insights with big
for some DOs. This is in spite of the UN mandate for the data “signals” found after analyzing billions of international
UPU to collect data for more than 100 indicators and data exchanges.
produce official statistical information on the sector every
year. Above all, it provides all postal sector stakeholders with
a starting point for well-informed discussions and data-
Fourth, for international postal exchanges, some DOs driven policymaking, particularly for those countries that
operate through different postal and logistics information suffer from the “postal divide” and lower data intelligence
technology systems outside the UPU’s international capabilities.
standards for global electronic data interchange (EDI).
Bypassing the UPU standards and platforms complicates,
or hinders, access to the data necessary to accurately
capture postal development.
INCREMENTAL,
PDLs are determined based on the 2IPD scoring method.
Scores result from the quantitative evaluation of each
postal operator’s performance in the key components of
ACHIEVABLE LEVELS postal development – postal reliability, reach, relevance

and resilience (Table 3).
OF DEVELOPMENT – The main methodological principle consists in gathering

all data and statistics available for a particular DO;
identifying possible data inconsistencies across the postal
NOT A RACE TO development components (that might bias the score);

and eliminating, to the extent possible, this risk. This data
integrity exercise enables the use of data available for each
THE TOP operator with greater confidence.
The major hurdle in conducting this exercise remains the

partial availability of data and postal statistics for some
The main goal of the 2IPD methodology is to identify the
operators. Therefore, some 2IPD results should be taken
level of postal development for each country that regularly
with this note of caution. We expect to overcome these
makes data available to the UPU data and statistical
potential pitfalls in future releases of the 2IPD, with the use
systems. A total of 172 countries did so in 2021.
of advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning
algorithms.
Countries that annually provide the UPU with

accurate data and statistics regarding their
postal activities not only allow themselves to A TRANSPARENT,
be reliably and independently benchmarked
each year, but also enable other countries to
EQUITABLE AND
measure their respective progress in their
postal development journey.
INCLUSIVE INDEX FOR
MEASURING POSTAL
Data gathered by the UPU is a valuable public good for
postal development worldwide. Every single additional
PROGRESS
data point in the UPU data systems or postal statistics
is equivalent to one more step in the production of key The 2IPD scoring system is built around the four key
postal knowledge for progress by the less-developed Posts. dimensions of postal development: postal reliability, reach,
relevance and resilience, also referred to as the “4Rs” of
With this unique wealth of industry data, the UPU has postal development.
identified 10 postal development levels (PDLs). We ranked
countries with their peers and classified each according Postal reliability is the first component of the general
to one of these 10 levels – based on their respective 2IPD 2IPD score. Billions of electronic data interchanges and
scores. message records (EMSEVT) that feed the global track-and-
trace system were explored, treated, cleaned and analyzed
Before describing the main components in the at the postal item level to separate all signals from noise in
computation of the 2IPD scores, we must explore and the data.
introduce the PDL concept used in this report.
This process allows us to keep the most relevant elements
The PDL approach classifies countries according to 10 of information related to the speed of postal delivery, from
postal development categories – from level 1 to 10 (Table 1) an inbound perspective, as well as the variability in delivery
These levels correspond to clusters of postal development times identified in the letter-post, parcel-post and EMS
that were statistically identified based on the analysis of the streams. In certain cases, customs clearance times also
2IPD scores. impacted the results of this analysis since the delivery of
some items can be substantially delayed through customs
procedures in some countries.
Table 1: UPU postal development levels
Postal
development COHORT CHARACTERISTICS
level (PDL)
This is the highest level of postal success that can be achieved.

PDL 10 represents a peer group of top postal performers whose DOs have fully
10 leveraged the power of their postal business models and substantially contribute
to their country’s overall economic growth and social inclusion.
DOs of countries in this group are close to achieving their maximum potential.
They positively impact societal development, leveraging their postal network
9 strengths while mitigating the effects of possible remaining weaknesses.
With an additional step towards reaching excellence, DOs of countries at this level
INCREASING POSTAL MATURITY
typically provide a greater value proposition to citizens, leveraging their postal

8 services portfolio.
DOs of countries at this level have likely achieved new milestones in their postal
7 development journey. They play a prominent role in their respective markets.
DOs of countries in PDL 6 are taking steps to accelerate their development. They
intensively work on improving performance in critical areas to ensure consistent
6 performance.
The core requirements for postal success are in play and a brighter postal future
5 seems possible.
4 DOs of countries in PDLs 4 and 3 are approaching, at different speeds, the

conditions that are necessary to serve their current and potential customers.
3
DOs of countries in this group are largely focused on operational objectives.
They need to undertake substantial service and business model improvements
2 to achieve better postal prospects in the coming decade.
The DOs of PDL 1 countries are initiating their postal journey or are
underperforming in terms of their potential. They must overcome structural
1 challenges and modernize their postal infrastructure.
Table 2: Postal development levels and their corresponding 2IPD scores
PDL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
38.9–48.8
48.9–58.8
58.9–68.8
78.9–88.8
28.9–38.8
68.9–78.8
18.9–28.8
88.9–100
8.9–18.8
0.0–8.8
2IPD
score
Table 3: The 4Rs of the 2IPD
Estimates the postal capacity to overcome

Assesses the development of quality of service
economic, social, technology and environmental
from a speed and predictability perspective
shocks in a sustainable way
ITY RESI
BIL L
IEN
RELIA
Integrated CE
Index for Postal
Development
(2IPD) Score
NCE
AC
RE
E
VA
H R E L
Evaluates the level of postal connectivity Measures the relative success of different
of the country with the rest of the world postal business models and activities from
from an outbound perspective a demand perspective
Prior UPU research on predicting delivery times and We assess, from a customer demand perspective, the
estimating the date of arrival of international postal relative success of the different postal business segments,
shipments shows the importance of these signals in such as the domestic letter-post, parcel post, logistics,
building more predictable delivery services and improving postal financial and international postal services, as well
the customer experience. as the provision of access to an extensive network of post
offices and service points for a wide range of purposes.
The 2IPD algorithm for postal reliability attributed a
maximum score of 100 to the country that was identified The strengths of each country’s postal business models
as the best performer in 2021, securing the highest level of are identified and compared with those of peers showing
quality of service for its customers. The least performing similar postal activity patterns in order to evaluate
countries with the lowest postal reliability level received a comparable postal business models. A score of 100 was
score of 0. The rest obtained intermediate scores according assigned to the most successful postal business model in
to their relative postal reliability achievements in 2021. terms of relative demand levels, and a score of 0 to the
most unsuccessful ones in 2021.
A score higher than 70 usually signals that a country is
meeting the conditions for postal development in terms of Given the extreme differences between the postal business
service reliability. achievements of the most successful postal operators and
their less successful peers, a score above 20 already sends
Postal reach is the second main component of the very positive signals in terms of short- and medium-run
2IPD scoring system. Millions of EDI messages related business prospects. A score below 5 should prompt the DO
to international postal dispatch information (PREDES) to critically assess its long-term business survival.
undergo a statistical process and treatment similar to
the one applied for the postal reliability component (as Finally, postal resilience is the fourth pillar of the 2IPD.
described above). Postal resilience is defined as the ability of the DO to
respond to unfavourable external economic, technological,
The purpose of this process is to measure the intensity societal and environmental shocks, and by so-doing,
of international postal connectivity, from an outbound benefit the country’s development as a whole. There
perspective. We achieve this by identifying the key nodes is strong evidence of the overall economic resilience
of the international postal network, the propensity of a DO benefits of protecting and providing opportunities to the
to maintain active international postal routes, and traffic most vulnerable parts of society through powerful postal
tonnage transported through these routes connecting the inclusion channels.
country to the rest of the world.
The recent COVID-19 health crisis has largely demonstrated
As previously highlighted in joint UPU and UN Global Pulse the postal value proposition in terms of resilience in a more
research (Hristova, Rutherford, Anson, Luengo-Oroz and volatile and uncertain world. The 2IPD postal resilience
Mascolo, 2016), the breadth and depth of the international algorithm evaluates how external economic risks could
postal network is closely related to a nation’s well-being, be better mitigated by diversifying one’s business, as well
thus underlining the importance of a global postal as by preserving economies of scale achieved through
infrastructure for international trade development. different postal activities.
Moreover, as shown by Anson, Arvis, Boffa, Helble and It also assesses the postal capacity to respond to disruptive
Shepherd (2020), international postal transit times can technologies with digital innovation, and looks at how the
represent a significant trade cost, impacting the evolution most vulnerable parts of a country’s population can be
of international exchanges and global supply chains. better protected and given new opportunities for greater
well-being with the inclusive provision of essential services
A score of 100 was attributed to the best in class in terms
such as financial services.
of international postal reach. The least connected networks
received a score of 0, with all other countries getting A wide variety of data sources, comprising hundreds of
intermediate scores depending on their level of relative thousands of records, are treated and analyzed, including
performance in terms of international postal connectivity the UPU postal statistics and key UPU surveys – such as
in 2021. the ones feeding the Global Panorama on Postal Financial
Inclusion (2011, 2016, and upcoming 2022) and the studies
A score higher than 50 can generally be interpreted as a
on innovation through digital postal services.
fairly good state of international connectivity for postal
development. Joint UPU and World Bank research (see Anson, Berthaud,
Klapper and Singer, 2013) has demonstrated the merits
Postal relevance is the third 2IPD component. To create
of postal networks in providing basic financial services to
this index, we combine the analysis from millions of EDI
the most vulnerable populations. Anson, Caron and Bosch
messages and thousands of UPU postal statistics records.
Gual (2008) have shown the positive local development
impacts of postal financial inclusion and trade facilitation A 2IPD score equal to or above the final threshold value
policies in Brazil, with the provision of first development of 38.9 led to a classification of countries in the groups
opportunities for micro, small and medium-sized corresponding to postal development levels 5 to 10, which
enterprises from remote communities. This result was represent countries with upper-middle and high postal
confirmed by an Inter-American Development Bank study development achievements. Countries with scores below
in Peru (Carballo, Schaur and Volpe Martincus, 2016). 38.9 were classified in groups corresponding to postal
development levels 1 to 4, namely, those countries with low
A future iteration of the 2IPD will integrate data to lower-middle postal development performances.
from the UPU’s carbon accounting tool (OSCAR) and
social services development data in a single postal The general 2IPD scores then allowed us to peer-
resilience data repository. group countries according to their postal development
achievements into 10 groups corresponding to 10 different
For the 2IPD postal resilience score, the country with the levels of postal development. Through this approach,
most resilient Post in 2021 received a score of 100, while the countries have the opportunity to benchmark themselves
countries with the least resilient Post received a score of 0. with their peers in a meaningful way, and to set their next
Other countries obtained intermediate scores as a function postal development targets.
of their relative resilience performance.
A score above 60 signals that the postal operator has

reached high enough resilience levels to potentially
contribute in a significant way to the trajectory of its Most importantly, member countries can
country development path.
draw insights from both their PDL and
their 2IPD component scores to create a
PEER GROUP performance gap analysis for improvement.
APPROACH TO With the right investment, technical

assistance and resourcing plans, countries
ANALYZING 2IPD can create a roadmap for progress within

and beyond their PDL – thus being an
SCORES increasingly valuable player in the global
postal network.
After the application of consistency treatments on UPU big
data and the computation of the respective scores through
a number of robust algorithms for each of the four main
components of the 2IPD, countries’ final 2021 2IPD scores
were obtained by aggregating the component scores.
An equal weight is given to each of the four main

components (postal reliability, reach, relevance and
resilience) in the 2IPD formula. Eventually countries’
score sums are normalized, with the highest value
rescaled to 100 and the lowest to 0.
In order to determine each country’s postal development

level, critical values separating the different groups were
identified through statistical analysis. The 2021 conversion
table between the PDLs and 2IPD scores is shown in
Table 2.
This unique big data To conclude this section on the 2IPD methodology and
its application to the 172 relevant countries, it is worth
stressing that this unique big data approach to measure
approach to measure postal development also unifies, in a single framework,

several theories resulting from almost two decades of
postal development economic modelling and empirical testing under the

auspices of the UPU. This “knowledge for all” journey will
soon be strengthened by the most recent advances in
also unifies, in a single artificial intelligence and machine learning to help shape
sensible and ambitious changes for the postal sector of the
framework, several 21st century.
In this way, the wealth of postal knowledge, produced over
theories resulting from the course of many years, can be used and shared with all
sector stakeholders to design a better postal future.
almost two decades of However, improved postal data sharing by UPU member
countries is critical for the success of this evidence-
economic modelling and based approach to postal development. Governments

must recognize the role of postal data as a global public
good and ensure that their DOs are meeting their UPU
empirical testing under obligations on data sharing.
A current mathematical description is available in the

the auspices of the 2021 Postal Development Report, with technical details
related to the 2IPD score calculations. An explanatory
UPU. This “knowledge memorandum on the 2IPD score calculation will be

published by the UPU towards the end of 2022.
for all” journey will soon

be strengthened by the
most recent advances
in artificial intelligence
and machine learning to
help shape sensible and
ambitious changes for
the postal sector of
the 21st century.
POSTAL DEVELOPMENT
LEVELS ACROSS REGIONS
AND COUNTRIES
The 2021 2IPD scores show a clear divide in terms of postal
development between advanced economies and most of Almost half of UPU member countries
the developing regions. are in low postal development groups, i.e.
In the official UPU terminology, developed countries are PDLs 1, 2 and 3.
classified in the “industrialized countries” (IC) grouping.
The “Europe and CIS region” is made up of developing
countries from Eastern Europe and the CIS. The “Arab
region” comprises nations from North Africa and the As shown in Figure 4, high-income economies (grouped
Middle East. The “Africa region” corresponds to countries in the IC category in most cases) led global postal
in Sub-Saharan Africa. The “Asia-Pacific region” covers development with a median 2IPD score of 70.2. The
countries of Southern and South-East Asia as well as Pacific Europe and CIS region, with a median 2IPD score of 53.4,
islands. The “Latin America and Caribbean region” refers to was also well above the world median. The Arab region
South and Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. score of 29.5 was the closest to the global median value,
followed by the Asia-Pacific region at 23.6.
The Africa region, with a median 2IPD score of 16.3,
NEARLY HALF THE was well below the global median score. Likewise, Latin
America and the Caribbean had a median 2IPD score of
16.1, mostly driven by low postal development in many
COUNTRIES ACHIEVED Caribbean countries.
The 2IPD score distribution is clearly reflected in the PDL
MODERATE OR LOW clustering by region (Figure 5). A relatively large number

of countries are classified in PDLs 1 and 2, while very few
2IPD SCORES
countries are in PDLs 7 and 8, and even fewer in PDLs
9 and 10.
Levels of postal development vary significantly from

one region to another. While countries could achieve Annex 2 presents a complete listing of UPU member
a maximum score of 100 for their postal development countries by 2IPD scores and PDL.
achievements, we find a global median 2IPD score of
30.0 in 2021.
Figure 4: 2021 2IPD scores by region

Figure 5: Global postal development level distribution by region
Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
Europe and CIS Region
IC Group
Latin America and Caribbean Region

GLOBAL RELIABILITY GLOBAL REACH

SCORE DISTRIBUTION SCORE DISTRIBUTION
The analysis of global and regional postal reliability As for the reach component of the 2IPD, the global
patterns also showed striking differences in the quality of median score of 20.5/100 signals major international postal
service achievements of postal operators across the world connectivity issues across the world in 2021 (Figure 4).
in 2021.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the international postal
In response to the pandemic-driven surge in online supply chain suffered from structural changes in the ways
shopping, postal delivery networks invested in additional of handling, processing and governing cross-border postal
capacity throughout the year to better handle the surge in exchanges.
parcel volumes: customers benefited from improvements in
speed and predictability of delivery in many countries. A perfect storm – combining changes in inbound
termination charges (the terminal dues), new customs
However, the global median reliability score of 28.4/100 regulations and regimes in the United States of America
remained low (Figure 4), with the IC group and the and the European Union, and business shifts from B2C to
Europe and CIS region being the only country groupings B2B2C cross-border e-commerce models – has generated
consistently achieving high median levels of postal difficulties for the development of international postal
reliability as highlighted by their scores of 88.5 and 76.8 reach.
respectively.
From a regional perspective, the IC group achieved the
The other regions remained closer to or well below the highest median score with a value of 67.6, followed by
world median, with median scores of 36.1 for the Arab the Europe and CIS region with a much lower score of
region, 22.3 for Asia-Pacific, 10.4 for Latin America and the 36.4. The Arab region attained a median reach score of
Caribbean, and only 6.7 for Africa. 23.3, thus sitting above the world median. The developing
regions of Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean,
Postal reliability was still one of the biggest postal and Africa obtained median reach scores of 13.1, 8.1 and
development challenges in 2021; the results point to the 4.5 respectively.
continued need for policymakers and DOs to focus on
quality of service issues.
GLOBAL RELEVANCE GLOBAL RESILIENCE

SCORE DISTRIBUTION SCORE DISTRIBUTION
Regional differences were most acute for the postal Regional differences were the least significant for
relevance scores. Asymmetries between postal business the postal resilience score values made available in
model successes achieved by the best global performers Annex 3. The capacity of postal networks to maintain,
and their peers from other regions were extreme: one of preserve and adapt their activities, shock after shock, and
the main reasons is that success in network and platform crisis after crisis, is almost an intrinsic feature of the Post.
business development is often exponential, and even more The continuation of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2021
so in global crisis times when the leading market players allowed postal services to once again demonstrate their
tend to further strengthen their position. unique value proposition, through numerous initiatives and
a systemic role in the provision of essential services for
While the global median relevance score reached the a more resilient society in crisis time.
extremely low value of 3.03/100 in 2021 (Figure 4), IC group
median relevance was 10 times higher with a score close The global median postal resilience score, with a value
to 30. of 53.9/100, was the highest of the four median 2IPD
component scores in the 2021 worldwide assessment
Except for the Europe and CIS region, with a median of postal development (Figure 4).
relevance score of 13.4, all other developing regions
featured extremely low postal relevance scores with median The IC group led the median resilience score with a value
values ranging from 0.3 in Africa to 3.3 in Asia-Pacific. of 81.8, closely followed by the Europe and CIS region with
The Latin America and Caribbean region was slightly below a score of 69.3. The Arab, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions
the world relevance median with a score of 2.7. got scores of 50.8, 47.9 and 47.1 respectively. The Latin
America and Caribbean region achieved a score of 42.3,
its highest score across all 2IPD components.
POSTAL DEVELOPMENT
GAPS BETWEEN REGIONS
AND COUNTRIES: A
DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS
We also analyzed the distribution of the 2IPD scores and Although the Europe and CIS region showed a similar
related PDLs to get a better picture of the development pattern of postal development among countries, a large
gaps between regions and countries. gap between the highest and lowest postal development
performers was also found. The Arab region showed a
The median scores, presented in the previous section, lower level of postal development heterogeneity across
often reflect only part of the postal development countries compared with the Asia-Pacific region or the IC
story across the world. group. Latin American and Caribbean countries as well as
African ones showed more homogeneous scores within
It is equally interesting to observe the variations in the
their regions of relatively low level of postal development.
different 2IPD component scores across regions since the
larger the variability of development scores, the higher the If global postal development were to follow a balanced
level of difficulty to provide global customers with a more state across the world, a “postal bell curve” distribution
homogenous portfolio of international postal services would be expected after classifying each country in one
throughout the UPU network, or to foster a greater of the 10 PDL groups. This would mean that while some
convergence in regulations of cross-border postal services. countries would show some very high levels in terms of
postal excellence at the one end of the distribution (on the
Similarly, the larger the postal development inequalities
right-hand side of the chart, Figure 5), on the lower end of
between countries, the more complex it becomes to
it would have been just a few countries (on the left-hand
optimally design future international postal exchange
side of the chart, Figure 5).
platforms integrating stakeholders at very different stages
in their postal development journey.
Instead, the PDL clustering for 2021
In Figure 6, the box-plot analysis shows the level of is clearly skewed towards the low or
dispersion of the 2021 2IPD scores around the most
representative regional score. For each region, most
very low levels of postal development
countries’ scores can be found in the range of values performance. This triggers huge postal
corresponding to the two blue “boxes”, with the remaining development imbalances between
exceptionally high or low values (i.e. the outliers) being
plotted out of the boxes.
countries.
The opportunity cost of these postal development
The Asia-Pacific region showed the largest dispersion of
imbalances can already be found in many past UPU
its postal development scores and is the only region in the
activities and projects through delayed implementation,
world with countries spread out across almost all levels of
or lack of dramatic improvements of the global postal
postal development.
network brought about by the lack of readiness of some
The next largest dispersion was in the IC group, countries to adopt critical operational and business model
which showed that, even for more advanced levels of changes.
postal development, a greater homogeneity in postal
development patterns is still to be secured.
Figure 6: Distribution of 2021 2IPD scores by region
This fosters a vicious “lack of postal development” Postal relevance clearly shows that most DOs are yet
circle where all UPU countries remain trapped. to benefit from greater business development in terms
of transaction volumes and revenue diversification. Only
One can better understand the source of these global a minority of DOs are able to fully seize the exponential
development imbalances by further examining the growth opportunities related to the digital economy in
distribution of the postal reliability, reach, relevance and spite of the COVID-19-driven e-commerce surge.
resilience achievements across countries in 2021.
The postal resilience component is the strongest
Detailed figures in Annex 3 allow us to visualize the contributor to a more balanced postal development across
classification of countries in 10 levels of development for the world. This component features a more symmetric
each of the 4R components of the 2IPD. distribution of countries in the 10 different levels of
development and is thus closer to the ideal bell-curve
Postal reliability highlights the existence of two poles
shape that should be targeted for postal reliability, reach
of development in terms of quality of service. On the one
and relevance in a rebalancing process.
hand, a significant number of countries were shaping up
to be a group having very reliable providers of delivery However, even within this fragmented distribution we can
services, while at the other end of the distribution, an even clearly identify leaders both at a global level and within
larger group of countries remained stuck at low levels of their regional peer groups, as will be shown in the next
postal reliability. section.
For postal reach, the distribution of countries is even
more skewed towards the left-hand side, with a vast
majority of countries suffering from low to very low
international postal connectivity from an outbound
perspective.
POSTAL SECTOR LEADERS

LEADERS IN POSTAL
EXCELLENCE
Countries that have reached the highest group, PDL 10, are the
leaders in postal excellence. These countries can be considered
to provide best-in-class postal services in the world.
Countries in the Countries in the

postal excellence 2021 postal excellence 2021
group PDL 10 2IPD score group PDL 10 2IPD score
AUSTRIA 96.8 GERMANY 97.5
CHINA 91.1 JAPAN 91.7
FRANCE 92.9 SWITZERLAND 100.0
Notable among this peer group are:

We present 172 UPU
Switzerland, which has received the member countries
highest 2IPD score in the world for the categorized across the
sixth time in a row, consistently holding 10 PDLs in Figure 5 and
Annex 1. A complete
the top spot since the launch of the listing is presented in
2IPD index. Annex 2.
China secured a 2IPD score above

90 for the first time in 2021.
REGIONAL CHAMPIONS
Regional champions represent the best in class within their postal peer groups. While at varying levels in the PDL classification,
they are the leaders within their own regions.
2021 PDL
Region Country 2IPD score classification
AFRICA CAMEROON 47.0 PDL 5
ARAB SAUDI ARABIA 50.0 PDL 6
ASIA-PACIFIC CHINA 91.1 PDL 10
EUROPE AND CIS ESTONIA 80.0 PDL 9
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN COLOMBIA 53.2 PDL 6
INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES SWITZERLAND 100.0 PDL 10

POSTAL DEVELOPMENT
CONVERGENCE
WORLDWIDE: A CATCH-UP
ASSESSMENT
After considering the different levels of postal development
across the world and the asymmetries in DO achievements,
Armenia, Egypt and Estonia achieved
we also analyzed the postal “catch up” process between the highest positive progress in their
countries.
2021 2IPD scores.
Imbalances in postal development can only be addressed
through an ambitious convergence roadmap enabling the
global postal network to move to the next level of service A number of other countries were moving in a similar
excellence. positive direction. They were catching up with Switzerland,
the global leader, as well as with at least one of the four
In spite of remaining COVID-19 challenges, 2021 was a
countries with the highest 2IPD specific component scores.
year of convergence in postal development: 124 out of 172
The leaders per 4R component score are:
countries were catching up, to different degrees, with the
best in class in 2021, as visualized in Figure 7.
Africa was the region with the highest number of countries

(28) catching up with Switzerland. More generally, RELIABILITY: SINGAPORE
countries were achieving the largest 2IPD score increases
between 2020 and 2021.
However, in spite of these positive developments, only REACH: UNITED STATES

28 countries were progressing at a faster pace than the
United States – which is progressing the most in the OF AMERICA
group of advanced economies. This meant that the postal
development gap between the most developed DOs and
the least developed DOs (in PDL groups 1 and 2) was
actually further widening. RELEVANCE: AUSTRIA
RESILIENCE: BELARUS
Figure 7: 2021 postal development catch-up countries
Figure 8: Postal development and reliability catch-up

We categorize countries that are catching up fast with As can be seen from the figures in Annex 4, the year-on-
their peers as “catch-up stars”. Postal services from these year changes in postal reach scores were mostly negative,
countries were usually able to combine their improvements with few countries in the “catch-up stars” category. The
in quality of service, international connectivity and reasons for this deterioration in international postal
resilience levels to move up the postal development ladder. connectivity must be studied in more depth so as to
The major source of global postal convergence in 2021 can understand how the international postal supply chain could
be found in the postal reliability dimension as shown in be better designed in the coming years.
Figure 8.
The catch-up process outcomes were very weak for the
Average delivery times were improving in almost all postal relevance dimension: only a small group of countries
regions, with the largest year-on-year decrease recorded could be categorized as “catch-up stars”, with Egypt’s and
in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Delivery speed Estonia’s stellar catch-up performance notable.
has even substantially increased in the Asia-Pacific, Arab
and Africa regions compared with their pre-pandemic As for postal resilience, a limited number of countries were
performances (Figure 9). Investments in quality of service able to further improve their relatively high score, as was
have started to pay off in many regions across the world. the case for China and Egypt.
Table 4 lists countries that were able to combine progress Some countries were confronted with negative changes
in terms of general postal development, as reflected to their 2021 2IPD component scores compared with the
by their 2IPD scores, with substantial advances in their previous year, and some lost gains achieved over previous
postal reliability scores. The higher quality of service levels years. This demonstrates once more that, in the postal
achieved in 2021 should eventually benefit the global sector, progress is never eternal and can be particularly
postal network provided that the worsening in postal reach volatile in developing regions.
convergence can be fixed.
Figure 9: Average delivery time per region over time

Postal development efforts need to be It is clear that providing a stable change management
framework is paramount to meeting current and future
sustained over time to maintain consistent challenges. In this context, moving faster towards a
performance improvements in the medium decarbonized postal future will also matter for successful
postal development, as discussed in the next section.
and long run.
Table 4: Reliability catch-up stars

2IPD + Reliability
Region Country Scores Changes PDL
Ethiopia 32.28 5
AFRICA REGION Kenya 31.63 5
Dem. Rep. of the Congo 28.00 3
Togo 19.98 4
South Africa 19.89 4
Nigeria 19.08 5
Mauritius 14.33 4
Gabon 11.39 2
Cameroon 10.38 5
Burkina Faso 10.11 2
Egypt 65.58 5
ARAB REGION United Arab Emirates 37.25 5
Saudi Arabia 19.26 6
Bahrain 17.47 3
Jordan 13.21 4
Philippines 45.48 4
ASIA PACIFIC India 33.08 6
REGION Pakistan 23.01 5
Maldives 20.37 3
Iran(Islamic Rep.) 18.63 6
Indonesia 12.99 5
Armenia 77.45 6
EUROPE AND Azerbaijan 32.42 5
CIS REGION Kazakhstan 20.10 6
Belarus 15.20 8
RussianFederation 12.51 7
Slovenia 11.13 6
Austria 12.18 10
IC GROUP Belgium 11.10 8
United States of America 10.76 9
Mexico 50.96 5
LATIN AMERICA AND Paraguay 25.01 3
CARIBBEAN REGION Jamaica 24.32 4
Brazil 17.60 6
Aruba 17.42 2
Argentina 15.10 4
Honduras 14.13 2
Dominican Republic 13.36 3
GREEN POSTAL
DEVELOPMENT: 2IPD
INSIGHTS FOR BETTER
POSTAL EMISSIONS
MEASUREMENT
DOs throughout the world are advancing an ambitious We have therefore explored the use of 2IPD scores to
carbon emission reduction agenda to fight against climate fill some of these gaps, and to provide the entire postal
change. community with a global perspective on postal greenhouse
gas emissions (expressed as CO2 equivalent).
The UPU is currently scaling up its ambition and actions to
support the transition to low-emission and climate-resilient The 2IPD methodology itself could become more
postal operations. This is reflected in the deliverables comprehensive in the way it integrates DOs’
associated with Abidjan Congress resolution C 17/2021, decarbonization efforts in its future assessment of the
which include voluntary target setting for global UPU postal resilience component (reflecting the benefits of
greenhouse gas emissions, and capacity building to reach increasing energy efficiency).
these targets.
Therefore, for the first time, the UPU is assessing
Data is central to the success of this work. First, the UPU the statistical relationship between each of the 2IPD
International Bureau (IB) needs to establish a baseline for components and the level of postal carbon emissions per
the total combined emissions of the DOs of UPU member capita.
countries. It is essential that all DOs engage with carbon
accounting, ideally through the UPU’s OSCAR (Online Leveraging the latest Scope 1, 2 and 3, anonymized, postal
Solution for Carbon Analysis and Reporting) tool. carbon emissions data (combining the direct and indirect
emissions generated by a given designated operator for
Secondly, the IB needs to clarify what levels of emission 2020), a multivariate regression analysis was conducted to
reduction are feasible for DOs to achieve, at different levels test the impact that developing greater postal reliability,
of postal development. Finally, annual updates on emission reach and relevance has on the postal carbon emissions
data will be needed to track global progress in emission in a given country.
reduction over time.
As it can also be intuitively expected, moving to a
Currently, the UPU does not have comprehensive higher PDL also leads to a higher level of carbon
carbon emission data for all DOs. This is a barrier to the emissions.
target-setting work of the IB. This also presents a missed
opportunity for DOs, as the process of carbon accounting Together, the postal reliability, reach and relevance scores
generates valuable summary information for DOs on their explained almost 80% of the variance in postal carbon
energy use and infrastructure performance. emissions per capita (R2 of 0.77 in a multiple regression
estimated with heteroskedasticity-consistent standard
errors).
In turn, this underlines the critical importance of integrating

decarbonization into quality of service improvements to
Our analysis, presented in Annex 5, identifies ensure more sustainable delivery services.
the existence of a positive and statistically
Another way towards greener postal development is
significant relationship between an increase the use of special slow delivery products that do not
in the 2IPD postal reliability, reach and undermine the 2IPD reliability score.
relevance scores and the level of postal CO2 As for postal reach, a 10% increase in the postal reach
emissions per capita in a country. score of a country is associated with an 11% increase in
its postal CO2 emissions per capita. This indicates a need
for greater efforts to decouple any growth in postal reach
from increasing emissions, for example, through smarter
Broadly speaking, it would appear that for postal multimodal transportation systems and greater use of low-
operators to achieve high reliability, relevance and emission freight options (e.g. rail).
reach, they currently need to emit high levels of
A greener postal reach could therefore be achieved
greenhouse gases.
through innovation and intense collaboration between all
This simply reflects the importance of implementing a high postal sector stakeholders.
density of post offices and a broad and active delivery
The correlation between the 2IPD relevance score and
network, in order to offer postal services at an adequate
the postal CO2 emissions per capita is the strongest of
standard throughout the territory. However, the key insight
all. Interestingly, a 10% rise in a country’s postal relevance
to be gained from this analysis is related to the range of
score only generates a 7.7% increase in postal carbon
emission values for any specific 2IPD value.
emissions, that is, a less than proportional increase in terms
As shown by the figures in Annex 5, a 2IPD reliability score of negative externalities related to business development.
of (log) 3.5 has been achieved by a number of DOs.
This reveals the environmental benefits from increasing the
Critically, some of them achieved this score with low variety of services offered by post offices. In many cases, it
emissions per capita (-7.5), and others with much higher is possible to offer new over-the-counter services using the
emissions per capita (-4.0). This demonstrates that the existing physical and digital infrastructure; growth in the
correlation between emissions and 2IPD scores is not relevance score can thus be achieved with relatively little
deterministic – it is not precise or set in stone. increase in environmental cost.
Some countries are working to decouple this relationship Finally, the very strong statistical relationships revealed in
by adopting greener delivery fleets and securing their this analysis could be used to support the broader UPU
electricity from renewable sources. goal of establishing a reliable estimation of its global
baseline emissions, helping to fill gaps in carbon emission
The graphs in Annex 5 can be used to visualize this data collection.
principle; those DOs found below the regression line can
be allocated to the low emissions category – achieving For now, the 2IPD analysis only considers CO2 emissions
their 2IPD score at a low environmental cost. In contrast, to assess a country’s “postal carbon emissions footprint”.
those above the regression line have achieved their 2IPD A broader inclusion of greenhouse gases will be done in
score in an environmentally inefficient way. upcoming iterations, to address the demand from member
countries as outlined in Abidjan Congress resolution C
A second insight concerns the proportional growth in 17/2021.
carbon emissions related to 2IPD scores.
When one examines the results of the regression analysis

using the different 2IPD components as the main
explanatory variables in the estimated equation, it can be
concluded that a 10% increase in the 2IPD reliability score
leads to a 13.3% rise in postal CO2 pollution emissions level
per capita – a more than proportional increase in emissions
resulting from greater speed or predictability of delivery.
Increasing postal excellence therefore currently

comes with an environmental cost related to the
organization of transportation through the network,
particularly in the last mile.
CONCLUSION
Postal development is a complex journey that requires Reaching significantly higher postal development levels
accurate data, continuous measurement and consistent remains the main goal for most DOs in the world though.
analysis. While the best roadmap for this purpose can vary from
country to country, sustainable success is more likely
The 2IPD intends to build such a framework for global through greater and greener collaboration among all
postal progress given the impact of well-functioning postal postal stakeholders.
services for citizens’ well-being and prosperity.
Ultimately, global sustainability for the sector will only
Encouragingly, 2021 can be seen as a positive year for be reached by scaling up collective data intelligence for
postal development across the world in a number of all. UPU member countries hold the keys to unleash the
areas. The reliability of postal services increased in many collective power of their postal data to ensure an enabling
countries: quality of service was higher than before the policy and operational environment that delivers best-in-
pandemic, and DOs were innovating in their way of class sustainable postal services to their citizens.
delivering items and communicating with their customers.
Moreover, letter-post volume declines started to slow

down after the most challenging decade in mail history.
Combined with a steady growth in parcel volumes, these
developments could move more DOs closer to greater
profitability. This revenue surplus is needed to fund
investments in network infrastructure and design the next
generation of postal services.
In spite of these improvements in many regions, very

important catch-up challenges remain open for
less-developed DOs in order to achieve greater and
consistent successes over time.
Postal development imbalances are pervasive and should

impel regulators and governments to review their national
postal sector policy in many cases. Yet some operators
are starting to show more encouraging prospects for the
coming years and are now catching up faster with their
best-in-class peers.
ANNEXES
Annex 1: Postal development levels (PDLs) –

country and regional breakdown
Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
IC Group

Annex 2: 2IPD results across postal development

levels (PDLs)
2021 2IPD Scores: Countries at Postal Development Levels 7, 8, 9 and 10
Asia Pacific Region

IC Group
2021 2IPD Scores: Countries at Postal Development Levels 7, 8, 9 and 10
Country PDL 2IPD Score Reliability Reach Relevance Resilience

Australia 7 68.8 90.1 64.2 22.0 79.8
Austria 10 96.8 90.3 72.6 100.0 96.6
Belarus 8 75.1 92.3 63.0 24.2 100.0
Belgium 8 73.9 75.8 79.5 31.3 88.6
Canada 9 81.9 88.7 73.2 48.5 94.3
China 10 91.1 81.5 94.7 94.3 68.0
Czech Rep. 8 69.0 88.4 62.3 24.1 82.0
Estonia 9 80.0 83.3 35.9 89.8 88.4
France 10 92.9 96.1 90.7 64.1 94.3
Germany 10 97.5 89.3 98.8 98.5 75.5
Great Britain 9 84.9 98.5 93.7 31.2 92.2
Ireland 8 70.5 96.8 47.4 24.3 94.0
Israel 7 59.3 77.4 50.8 9.1 83.8
Italy 8 72.8 75.7 75.3 26.0 93.8
Japan 10 91.7 97.5 68.9 99.7 74.5
Korea (Rep.) 7 59.0 99.4 42.6 12.3 65.7
Latvia 7 62.0 89.5 59.7 17.4 64.5
Malaysia 7 63.5 86.6 72.6 3.5 73.9
Moldova 7 61.3 97.5 43.1 14.3 73.6
Netherlands 9 86.2 89.0 95.5 47.0 89.1
New Zealand 8 69.6 97.7 52.9 21.1 87.5
Poland 7 65.5 77.9 63.7 13.2 89.2
Portugal 7 66.1 65.3 64.3 25.2 91.4
Russian Federation 7 67.7 81.3 65.8 12.9 92.3
Serbia 7 65.2 91.6 41.8 11.5 98.0
Singapore 8 78.7 100.0 88.8 13.8 90.2
Slovakia 7 65.8 95.1 44.2 18.2 87.9
Spain 7 60.0 77.2 73.6 9.2 63.9
Sweden 7 60.5 85.3 63.6 28.5 48.0
Switzerland 10 100.0 96.4 81.0 96.9 97.0
Thailand 7 61.3 99.4 44.4 8.0 76.7
United States of America 9 87.5 88.5 100.0 77.4 59.3
2021 2IPD Scores: Countries at Postal Development Levels 5 and 6
Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
IC Group

Armenia 6 51.5 77.3 35.4 11.3 68.4
Azerbaijan 5 43.6 79.5 30.5 5.7 47.6
Bosnia and Herzegovina 5 43.6 26.6 24.6 15.1 96.9
Brazil 6 49.0 52.9 43.3 4.9 82.1
Bulgaria 6 52.6 68.9 44.6 18.4 64.5
Cameroon 5 47.0 84.3 37.9 0.3 53.4
Colombia 6 53.2 80.4 40.1 1.3 76.9
Croatia 6 56.3 87.0 36.8 19.0 67.4
Cyprus 6 53.9 32.6 30.1 56.6 81.9
Denmark 6 52.5 88.5 66.4 17.5 23.6
Egypt 5 45.3 75.5 32.9 15.9 45.0
Ethiopia 5 39.9 66.6 31.0 0.3 51.6
Finland 6 57.3 86.8 42.5 41.2 43.5
Georgia 5 44.5 67.4 31.0 1.4 66.8
Greece 6 51.8 66.7 52.8 6.9 67.1
Hungary 6 57.0 87.8 63.6 26.9 34.4
India 6 57.3 74.5 72.9 6.1 60.3
Indonesia 5 40.2 47.4 28.9 3.0 71.6
Iran (IslamicRep.) 6 51.6 79.7 34.9 5.8 72.3
Kazakhstan 6 53.0 76.4 41.1 15.1 65.2
Kenya 5 43.1 72.2 28.6 0.5 60.1
Kyrgyzstan 5 43.0 51.7 27.4 7.2 74.7
Lebanon 5 39.7 67.7 45.0 0.7 35.6
Lithuania 6 58.5 73.1 54.6 9.2 81.2
Malta 5 39.1 19.6 18.1 26.1 82.8
Mexico 5 46.8 69.1 40.1 2.6 63.3
Mongolia 5 40.7 66.9 36.3 4.7 44.8
Nigeria 5 43.7 75.4 34.1 0.8 53.3
Norway 5 45.5 48.8 28.3 27.0 66.2
Pakistan 5 46.2 78.6 43.4 6.0 44.7
Qatar 5 39.5 58.9 31.3 0.4 57.4
Romania 6 51.7 84.7 45.9 12.9 49.5
Saudi Arabia 6 49.5 83.8 43.5 0.9 56.7
Slovenia 6 53.9 37.0 34.2 64.0 66.1
Tunisia 5 43.8 49.0 22.7 17.6 74.7
Turkey 6 57.3 78.7 62.1 2.9 70.1
Ukraine 6 49.6 66.5 32.7 11.5 74.6
United Arab Emirates 5 44.3 90.0 48.9 1.4 25.6
Viet Nam 5 46.5 79.6 32.0 6.5 55.8
Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
IC Group

Albania 3 26.7 19.8 18.2 9.5 53.4
Algeria 4 30.7 39.7 23.8 4.8 47.3
Argentina 4 30.0 34.0 35.9 3.1 40.0
Bahrain 3 21.5 16.0 14.7 0.6 50.3
Benin 3 20.4 8.0 7.4 0.4 61.9
Cambodia 3 21.6 45.3 11.0 0.2 25.4
Chile 4 38.4 42.8 30.7 2.7 67.9
Congo (Dem. Rep.) 3 21.9 19.4 21.6 0.2 42.0
Costa Rica 3 25.9 29.7 15.5 1.0 51.8
Cote d lvoire 3 24.3 13.3 12.3 0.3 66.3
Djibouti 3 19.4 6.2 5.7 0.4 61.8
Dominican Republic 3 25.1 25.5 11.3 0.6 57.8
El Salvador 3 18.9 15.2 14.1 0.7 42.2
Ghana 4 38.6 60.5 27.7 0.4 56.2
Iceland 4 29.2 11.4 10.6 23.6 64.5
Jamaica 4 38.0 59.5 22.9 6.9 53.4
Jordan 4 32.5 48.9 25.8 1.0 46.5
Lao 3 25.7 40.5 7.5 0.9 48.2
Luxembourg 4 33.9 15.9 14.7 53.1 43.8
Madagascar 3 22.1 16.1 14.8 0.5 52.4
Maldives 3 28.6 15.2 14.1 12.6 66.0
Mauritius 4 37.9 28.4 26.3 6.0 81.4
Montenegro 4 29.0 17.2 15.9 13.6 62.8
Morocco 4 38.1 32.4 30.0 6.7 74.0
North Macedonia 4 37.9 49.9 27.0 8.3 57.1
Oman 3 28.3 45.3 26.0 1.0 34.6
Paraguay 3 24.8 29.5 17.6 1.1 45.6
Peru 3 26.5 26.5 24.5 0.2 49.1
Philippines 4 35.7 56.1 26.6 0.5 50.8
Rwanda 3 21.1 9.2 8.5 0.1 62.4
Senegal 4 32.4 55.4 22.3 0.6 43.5
South Africa 4 38.7 35.7 40.9 2.7 65.7
Sri Lanka 4 33.6 28.3 28.4 10.0 59.8
Sudan 3 22.9 8.1 7.5 2.7 68.6
Tanzania (United Rep.) 3 19.3 16.2 2.9 0.1 54.5
Togo 4 30.2 17.4 16.1 1.7 78.8
2021 2IPD Scores: Countries at Postal Development Level 2 (Part I of II)
Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
2021 2IPD Scores: Countries at Postal Development Level 2 (Part II of II)
Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
2021 2IPD Scores: Countries at Postal Development Level 2 (Part I of II)

Afganistan 2 12.6 1.2 1.1 0.5 46.1
Angola 2 15.7 9.9 9.2 0.1 41.3
Antigua and Barbuda 2 11.9 0.0 0.0 3.8 42.6
Aruba 2 18.7 12.8 11.8 2.9 43.9
Bahamas 2 13.2 0.0 0.0 4.5 46.8
Bangladesh 2 13.9 16.3 15.1 1.7 20.7
Barbados 2 17.1 0.0 0.0 3.8 61.8
Belize 2 12.5 9.8 9.1 1.6 28.0
Botswana 2 15.6 0.0 0.0 2.6 57.3
Burkina Faso 2 15.4 4.3 3.9 0.2 50.8
Burundi 2 16.9 0.0 0.0 0.6 64.3
Cape Verde 2 16.4 21.0 19.4 1.9 20.7
Comoros 2 17.2 0.0 0.0 1.3 64.5
Congo(Rep.) 2 13.5 0.0 0.0 0.3 51.8
Cuba 2 16.0 16.5 1.1 5.1 38.9
Dominica 2 10.8 0.0 0.0 3.6 38.6
Eritrea 2 9.1 0.0 0.0 0.7 35.2
Fiji 2 9.3 6.8 6.2 2.8 21.0
Gabon 2 13.2 5.3 4.9 1.1 39.8
Guyana 2 12.0 0.0 0.0 4.3 42.4
Honduras 2 13.5 27.4 19.2 0.4 5.2
Iraq 2 18.5 9.9 9.2 0.2 51.2
Kiribati 2 10.7 0.0 0.0 7.8 34.2
Lesotho 2 15.6 0.0 0.0 0.8 59.2

Eswatini 2 17.2 0.0 0.0 1.8 63.9
Liberia 2 13.4 4.5 4.1 0.2 42.9
Libya 2 11.8 0.0 0.0 1.2 44.6
Malawi 2 18.3 0.0 0.0 0.3 69.5
Mali 2 11.2 3.4 3.1 0.1 37.2
Mauritania 2 17.7 0.0 0.0 0.4 67.5
Myanmar 2 15.1 3.9 3.6 1.0 49.5
Nepal 2 14.8 5.4 5.0 10.7 35.8
Niger 2 11.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 43.3
Panama (Rep.) 2 14.0 7.7 7.1 1.0 38.3
Papua New Guinea 2 13.3 0.0 0.0 0.4 51.0
Saint Lucia 2 13.5 0.0 0.0 10.1 42.0
Seychelles 2 11.8 0.0 0.0 3.6 42.2
Sierra Leone 2 10.1 8.0 7.4 0.2 23.9
Solomon Islands 2 14.2 13.1 12.1 6.5 23.0
Tajikistan 2 17.7 16.2 14.9 2.7 34.0
Tonga 2 17.1 10.7 9.9 1.8 43.1
Trinidad and Tobago 2 18.4 0.6 0.6 6.7 62.2
Tuvalu 2 9.7 3.0 2.8 3.0 29.3
Uganda 2 16.2 11.5 10.6 0.1 40.0
Uruguay 2 16.1 10.9 10.1 4.4 36.4
Uzbekistan 2 17.7 15.8 14.6 2.4 34.9
Zambia 2 16.5 26.2 10.9 0.3 25.8
Zimbabwe 2 11.8 0.0 0.0 0.9 45.0
2021 2IPD Scores: Countries at Postal Development Level 1
Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region

Bhutan 1 8.6 1.1 1.1 2.3 29.8
Brunei Darussalam 1 7.3 0.9 0.8 2.9 24.6
Central African Rep. 1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 2.3
Chad 1 6.9 0.0 0.0 0.2 27.5
Equatorial Guinea 1 2.4 0.0 0.0 0.2 11.2
Gambia 1 6.7 0.0 0.0 0.3 26.7
Guatemala 1 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.2 3.6
Guinea 1 7.2 0.0 0.0 0.1 28.9
Haiti 1 3.5 0.0 0.0 0.1 15.4
Kuwait 1 6.7 7.0 6.4 0.6 12.9
Mozambique 1 3.6 0.0 0.0 0.1 15.7
Nicaragua 1 7.8 0.0 0.0 1.0 30.2
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1 6.7 0.0 0.0 5.8 21.4
Samoa 1 8.4 1.8 1.6 1.4 28.5
St. Christopher and Nevis 1 5.6 0.0 0.0 4.0 19.1
Suriname 1 4.5 0.0 0.0 1.0 18.1
Vanuatu 1 5.1 9.1 8.4 0.7 3.0
Annex 3: 2IPD 4R components –

regional distribution
2021 Postal Reliability Development

Levels Across Countries and Regions
Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
IC Group
2021 Postal Reach Development Levels

Across Countries and Regions
Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
IC Group
2021 Postal Relevance Development

Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
IC Group
2021 Postal Resilience Development

Africa Region
Arab Region
Asia Pacific Region
IC Group
Annex 4: Postal reach, relevance and resilience

“catch up” scores
2021 Postal Development
and Reach Catch Up Stars
2IPD + Reliability
AFRICA REGION Togo 18.66 4
Uganda 12.89 2
Mauritius 12.19 4
Kenya 11.09 5
Gabon 10.99 2
Nigeria 10.00 5
ARAB REGION Bahrain 16.26 3
ASIA PACIFIC Maldives 19.21 3

REGION India 12.39 6
EUROPE AND Armenia 35.58 6

CIS REGION Azerbaijan 10.06 5
IC GROUP Portugal 11.24 7
LATIN AMERICA AND Paraguay 18.62 3

CARIBBEAN REGION Aruba 16.45 2
Mexico 14.96 5
2021 Postal Development and

Relevance Catch Up Promises and Stars
2IPD + Reliability
AFRICA REGION Togo 12.31 4
ARAB REGION Egypt 35.89 5
ASIA PACIFIC Pakistan 10.69 5
REGION India 10.43 6
EUROPE AND Estonia 76.19 9
CIS REGION Armenia 21.73 6
Belarus 14.34 8
IC GROUP Austria 16.42 10
United States of America 12.23 9
Belgium 11.11 8
2021 Postal Development

and Resilience Catch Up Stars
2IPD + Reliability
AFRICA REGION Malawi 23.97 2
Togo 22.89 4
Eswatini 20.28 2
ARAB REGION Egypt 37.65 5
Mauritania 24.77 2
Sudan 12.67 3
ASIA PACIFIC REGION China 40.60 10
EUROPE AND Estonia 27.72 9
CIS REGION Lithuania 13.42 6
Montenegro 12.12 4
Belarus 12.06 8
IC GROUP Netherlands 10.08 9
LATIN AMERICA AND Colombia 25.57 6

CARIBBEAN REGION Panama (Rep.) 17.12 2
Bahamas 15.02 2
Annex 5: Postal carbon footprint by 2IPD

sub-scores on reliability, reach and relevance
Postal Carbon Footprint
and Reliability Score in 2021
Exported Postal Carbon Footprint

and Reach Score in 2021
Postal Carbon Footprint

and Relevance Score in 2021
BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Anson J., Arvis J.-F., Boffa M., Helble M., and Shepherd B. The Postal Development Report and the Integrated Index
“Time, uncertainty and trade flows”. The World Economy, for Postal Development are the result of teamwork across
vol. 43(9), pages 2375–2392, 2020. various units of expertise at the UPU International Bureau.
Anson J., Berthaud A., Klapper L., and Singer D. “Financial The 2022 Postal Development Report was prepared by
inclusion and the role of the post office”. World Bank Policy Dr José Anson, UPU Economist, under the guidance and
Research Working Paper 6630, 2013. supervision of Saleh Khan, Programme Manager, and Siva
Somasundram, Director of Policy, Regulation and Markets.
Anson J., Bosch Gual L., and Caron J. “Financial and trade
inclusion through postal networks” in “Postal economics for This report is possible thanks to the work conducted by
developing countries”. Ed. Joëlle Toledano, UPU, 2008. the International Bureau’s postal statistics team. We are
particularly grateful to Lukasz Piotrowski and Jessika Brena
Carballo J., Schaur G., and Volpe Martincus C. “Posts as in this respect. The authors also wish to thank Mauro Boffa
trade facilitators”. IDB Working Paper Series 701, 2016. and Fernao De Borba for their invaluable contribution
in the production process of the 2021 2IPD scores and
Hristova D., Rutherford A., Anson J., Luengo-Oroz M., and
analyses.
Mascolo C. “The international postal network and other
global flows as proxies for national wellbeing”. PloS ONE Section IX on postal carbon emissions was prepared with
11(6), e0155976, 2016. input and guidance from James Hale, UPU Sustainability
Expert. We would like to thank him for his time and
availability.
The International Bureau’s communications team played a

critical role, we particularly thank Kayla Redstone and Gisèle
DISCLAIMERS Coron; as well as Sonja Denovski for a giving the 2022 PDR
a new look. Finally, we thank the International Bureau’s
editing and translation services for their work in ensuring
Except as otherwise indicated, the copyright in this
that this report is accessible by all.
publication is owned by the Universal Postal Union (UPU).
Reproduction is authorized for non-commercial purposes,
subject to proper acknowledgement of the source. This
authorization does not extend to any material identified
in this publication as being the copyright of a third party.
Authorization to reproduce such third-party materials must
be obtained from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication by the UPU constitutes research in progress

of an informational character for which no guarantees
or assurances are provided; in this regard, it shall not be
deemed to represent the official position or opinions of the
UPU or its staff members or of UPU member countries.
Moreover, the depiction and use of boundaries, geographic

names and related data shown on maps and included in
lists, tables, documents and databases are not warranted
to be error-free and do not necessarily imply official
endorsement or acceptance by the UPU.
Y RESI
IB LIT L
IEN
RELIA
CE
Integrated
Index for Postal
Development
(2IPD) Score
NCE
AC
RE
E
VA
H R E L
Design – Universal Postal Union
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2022 POSTAL

Printed in Switzerland by the printing services

Copyright © 2022 Universal Postal Union

Except as otherwise indicated, the copyright in this

AUTHORS: Dr José Anson, UPU Economist | Saleh Khan,

TITLE: 2022 Postal Development Report - Postal journey

DESIGN: Sonja Denovski

Measuring global postal development: (re)introducing

Postal development levels across regions and countries................................................ 20

Postal development gaps between regions and countries:

Postal development convergence worldwide: a catch-up assessment.................. 29

International postal connectivity was

The relevance of postal services should

Progress can only be built in a

Finally, greater progress by all and for all

Postal resilience, for serving society beyond times of crisis,

As one can only improve what can be measured, the 2IPD

Figure 1: Global 2IPD score distribution

2IPD score (2021)

LATEST TRENDS IN THE

Source: Universal Postal Union, 2022

Under these conditions, we anticipate that global postal

Figure 3: Statistical relationships between letter post and parcel post

Source: Universal Postal Union, 2022

In 2021, we observed that

LIKE” COMPARISON regulatory approach in different ways.

And finally, the postal debate is sometimes dominated by

ACHIEVABLE LEVELS postal development – postal reliability, reach, relevance

OF DEVELOPMENT – The main methodological principle consists in gathering

NOT A RACE TO development components (that might bias the score);

THE TOP operator with greater confidence.

The major hurdle in conducting this exercise remains the

Countries that annually provide the UPU with

Table 1: UPU postal development levels

This is the highest level of postal success that can be achieved.

typically provide a greater value proposition to citizens, leveraging their postal

4 DOs of countries in PDLs 4 and 3 are approaching, at different speeds, the

Table 2: Postal development levels and their corresponding 2IPD scores

Table 3: The 4Rs of the 2IPD

Estimates the postal capacity to overcome

A score above 60 signals that the postal operator has

APPROACH TO With the right investment, technical

ANALYZING 2IPD can create a roadmap for progress within

An equal weight is given to each of the four main

In order to determine each country’s postal development

approach to measure postal development also unifies, in a single framework,

postal development economic modelling and empirical testing under the

framework, several 21st century.

In this way, the wealth of postal knowledge, produced over

economic modelling and based approach to postal development. Governments

empirical testing under obligations on data sharing.

A current mathematical description is available in the

UPU. This “knowledge memorandum on the 2IPD score calculation will be

for all” journey will soon

The Africa region, with a median 2IPD score of 16.3,

COUNTRIES ACHIEVED Caribbean countries.

The 2IPD score distribution is clearly reflected in the PDL

MODERATE OR LOW clustering by region (Figure 5). A relatively large number

Levels of postal development vary significantly from