{"id": 1229767, "name": "Marriage equality \u2014 Legal (number of countries)", "unit": "countries", "createdAt": "2026-05-20T15:35:45.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-05-20T15:35:45.000Z", "coverage": "", "timespan": "1991-2025", "datasetId": 7970, "shortUnit": "", "columnOrder": 0, "shortName": "marriage_legal_count", "catalogPath": "grapher/lgbt_rights/2026-05-11/lgbti_national_policy_dataset/lgbti_national_policy_dataset_combined_regions#marriage_legal_count", "descriptionShort": "The number of countries where same-sex marriage is legal and fully implemented (civil unions may also exist).", "descriptionProcessing": "From the original dataset, we combined three indicators \u2014 marriage equality (legal direction), marriage equality (illegal direction, i.e. constitutional or statutory bans), and civil unions \u2014 into a single categorical indicator (Legal, Civil unions only, Varies by region, No legal provisions, Banned) based on the proportion scores of all three. Country-years where marriage equality, the ban, or civil unions are only partially in effect across subnational jurisdictions are classified as \"Varies by region\"; country-years where a national civil union or registered partnership is recognized but same-sex marriage is not are classified as \"Civil unions only\". We then counted the countries classified as \"Legal\" within each region. Regional aggregates are computed from country-level data using [Our World in Data's region definitions](https://ourworldindata.org/world-region-map-definitions), the [World Bank's income group classification](https://ourworldindata.org/world-bank-income-groups-explained), and our [consolidated population data](https://ourworldindata.org/population-sources). A country is counted as having full implementation when the policy proportion equals 1.", "type": "int", "datasetName": "LGBTI National Policy Dataset", "updatePeriodDays": 365, "datasetVersion": "2026-05-11", "nonRedistributable": false, "display": {"name": "Legal", "unit": "countries", "numDecimalPlaces": 0}, "schemaVersion": 2, "processingLevel": "major", "presentation": {"attributionShort": "Velasco", "topicTagsLinks": ["LGBT+ Rights", "Human Rights"]}, "descriptionKey": ["This data comes from the LGBTI National Policy Dataset, compiled by Kristopher Velasco at Princeton University. It tracks the adoption, scope, and enforcement of 27 LGBTI-related policies across 197 countries, with annual data starting in 1991."], "dimensions": {"years": {"values": [{"id": 1991}, {"id": 1992}, {"id": 1993}, {"id": 1994}, {"id": 1995}, {"id": 1996}, {"id": 1997}, {"id": 1998}, {"id": 1999}, {"id": 2000}, {"id": 2001}, {"id": 2002}, {"id": 2003}, {"id": 2004}, {"id": 2005}, {"id": 2006}, {"id": 2007}, {"id": 2008}, {"id": 2009}, {"id": 2010}, {"id": 2011}, {"id": 2012}, {"id": 2013}, {"id": 2014}, {"id": 2015}, {"id": 2016}, {"id": 2017}, {"id": 2018}, {"id": 2019}, {"id": 2020}, {"id": 2021}, {"id": 2022}, {"id": 2023}, {"id": 2024}, {"id": 2025}]}, "entities": {"values": [{"id": 273, "name": "Africa", "code": "OWID_AFR"}, {"id": 275, "name": "Asia", "code": "OWID_ASI"}, {"id": 276, "name": "Europe", "code": "OWID_EUR"}, {"id": 457, "name": "High-income countries", "code": "OWID_HIC"}, {"id": 461, "name": "Low-income countries", "code": "OWID_LIC"}, {"id": 460, "name": "Lower-middle-income countries", "code": "OWID_LMC"}, {"id": 294, "name": "North America", "code": "OWID_NAM"}, {"id": 277, "name": "Oceania", "code": "OWID_OCE"}, {"id": 295, "name": "South America", "code": "OWID_SAM"}, {"id": 459, "name": "Upper-middle-income countries", "code": "OWID_UMC"}, {"id": 355, "name": "World", "code": "OWID_WRL"}]}}, "origins": [{"id": 15205, "title": "LGBTI National Policy Dataset", "description": "The LGBTI National Policy Dataset (Version 2.0) is a country-year-policy panel dataset tracking the adoption, scope, and enforcement of LGBTI-related policies across 197 countries from 1991 to 2025. The dataset is distributed in long format, where each row represents a single country in a single year for one specific policy-status combination. It is designed for use in comparative political research, policy diffusion analysis, and quantitative cross-national studies of LGBTI rights.\n\nThe dataset covers 27 distinct policy areas organized into 54 policy-status combinations (each policy paired with two mutually exclusive status directions). Of these 54 combinations, 36 contain substantive data; the remaining 18 are structural placeholders with all-zero values, included to maintain a fully balanced panel suitable for econometric methods.", "producer": "Velasco", "citationFull": "Velasco, Kristopher. 2026. \"LGBTI National Policy Dataset, Version 2.0.\" [Dataset].", "attributionShort": "Velasco", "versionProducer": "2.0", "urlMain": "https://osf.io/wta9p/overview", "dateAccessed": "2026-05-11", "datePublished": "2026-03-23", "license": {"url": "https://osf.io/wta9p/overview", "name": "CC BY 4.0"}}]}