{"id": 1354714, "name": "Legal change of gender marker \u2014 Surgery and sterilization required (number of countries)", "unit": "countries", "createdAt": "2026-10-29T10:46:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-11-10T12:49:35.000Z", "coverage": "", "timespan": "1991-2025", "datasetId": 8245, "shortUnit": "", "columnOrder": 0, "shortName": "gender_marker_change_surgery_and_sterilization_required_count", "catalogPath": "grapher/lgbt_rights/2026-07-15/lgbti_national_policy_dataset/lgbti_national_policy_dataset_combined_regions#gender_marker_change_surgery_and_sterilization_required_count", "descriptionShort": "Number of countries classified as \"Surgery and sterilization required\" on the indicator on legal change of gender marker.", "descriptionProcessing": "From the original dataset, we combined the gender-marker-change proportion (the legal direction) with the recorded legal-pathway requirement to produce a single categorical indicator. When legal change of the gender marker is fully in effect, we classify countries by their procedural requirement (\"Self-declaration is enough\", \"Court order required\", \"Diagnosis required\", \"Surgery required\", \"Surgery and sterilization required\", or \"Legally possible, requirement unknown\" when the requirement is not recorded). Otherwise the country is classified as \"Varies by region\" (legal change is only partially in effect across subnational jurisdictions) or \"Not legally possible\" (no legal procedure exists). We then counted the countries classified as \"Surgery and sterilization required\" within each region. We calculate regional totals from the country data, using [our 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, for population totals, our [consolidated population data](https://ourworldindata.org/population-sources).", "type": "int", "dataChecksum": "15788205982465194181", "metadataChecksum": "4044198290636381217", "datasetName": "LGBTI National Policy Dataset", "updatePeriodDays": 365, "datasetVersion": "2026-07-15", "nonRedistributable": false, "display": {"name": "Surgery and sterilization required", "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 195 countries, with annual data starting in 1991.\n- The dataset counts policies established by binding legal instruments \u2014 statutes, constitutional provisions, decrees and regulations with the force of law, and binding court rulings. Where no law governs a policy, a written rule that does can count too, such as a health-authority guideline, a blood service's donor questionnaire or a religious ruling. Bills, ministerial statements and non-binding declarations are not counted.\n- A policy counts from the year it was adopted, even if it took effect later. For example, same-sex marriage counts as legal in the United Kingdom from 2019, when the law extending it to Northern Ireland was passed, although the first weddings there took place in 2020.", "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": 28285, "title": "LGBTI National Policy Dataset", "description": "The LGBTI National Policy Dataset (Version 3.0) is a country-year-policy panel tracking the adoption, scope, and enforcement of LGBTI-related policies across 195 countries from 1991 to 2025. The dataset is distributed in long format: each row records one country in one year for one specific policy-status combination, with the share of the population covered, the adoption and implementation years, the policy's descriptors (penalty, fine, sexes covered, scope, enforcement), up to twelve source citations and a confidence rating. 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 3.0.\" https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WTA9P.", "attributionShort": "Velasco", "versionProducer": "3.0", "urlMain": "https://osf.io/wta9p/overview", "dateAccessed": "2026-10-19", "datePublished": "2026-10-16", "license": {"url": "https://osf.io/wta9p/", "name": "CC BY 4.0"}}]}