{"id":1354582,"name":"LGBTI Composite Policy Index","unit":"","createdAt":"2026-10-29T10:45:36.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-11-10T12:49:28.000Z","coverage":"","timespan":"1991-2025","datasetId":8245,"shortUnit":"","columnOrder":0,"shortName":"composite_index","catalogPath":"grapher/lgbt_rights/2026-07-15/lgbti_national_policy_dataset/lgbti_composite_index#composite_index","descriptionShort":"Summary measure of a country's LGBTI-related laws, calculated by subtracting the sum of its regressive policy scores from the sum of its progressive policy scores.","descriptionProcessing":"Values for world regions are population-weighted averages of the countries in each region, computed by Our World in 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 our [consolidated population data](https://ourworldindata.org/population-sources). Country values come directly from the producer.","type":"float","dataChecksum":"6585674556804870456","metadataChecksum":"4289968612729036196","datasetName":"LGBTI National Policy Dataset","updatePeriodDays":365,"datasetVersion":"2026-07-15","nonRedistributable":false,"display":{"name":"LGBTI Composite Policy Index","tolerance":0,"numDecimalPlaces":1},"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 index combines 35 measures drawn from the dataset's 27 policy areas — 23 that expand rights (such as marriage equality, protections from discrimination, or legal gender recognition) and 12 that restrict them (such as the criminalization of same-sex acts, the death penalty, \"propaganda\" laws, or military service bans). Measures that expand rights add to the score; measures that restrict them subtract from it.\n- Each measure scores between 0 and 1, depending on how strongly it operates in practice. Its score is the share of the population it covers, multiplied by the average of its other features — how broad it is, whether it is actually enforced, and, where they apply, whether it covers all genders, how severe its punishments are, and how easy the right is to use.\n- In practice this means a law that exists on paper but is never enforced counts less than one that is actively applied, and a right that requires surgery counts less than one available by self-declaration.\n- Higher values indicate more rights-affirming legal environments; negative values indicate that restrictive laws dominate. In 2025, country values range from about −4.5 (Uganda) to 20.3 (Malta).\n- The dataset counts policies established by binding legal instruments — 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":15,"name":"Afghanistan","code":"AFG"},{"id":273,"name":"Africa","code":"OWID_AFR"},{"id":16,"name":"Albania","code":"ALB"},{"id":17,"name":"Algeria","code":"DZA"},{"id":18,"name":"Andorra","code":"AND"},{"id":19,"name":"Angola","code":"AGO"},{"id":20,"name":"Antigua and Barbuda","code":"ATG"},{"id":21,"name":"Argentina","code":"ARG"},{"id":22,"name":"Armenia","code":"ARM"},{"id":275,"name":"Asia","code":"OWID_ASI"},{"id":23,"name":"Australia","code":"AUS"},{"id":24,"name":"Austria","code":"AUT"},{"id":25,"name":"Azerbaijan","code":"AZE"},{"id":26,"name":"Bahamas","code":"BHS"},{"id":27,"name":"Bahrain","code":"BHR"},{"id":28,"name":"Bangladesh","code":"BGD"},{"id":29,"name":"Barbados","code":"BRB"},{"id":30,"name":"Belarus","code":"BLR"},{"id":4,"name":"Belgium","code":"BEL"},{"id":31,"name":"Belize","code":"BLZ"},{"id":32,"name":"Benin","code":"BEN"},{"id":33,"name":"Bhutan","code":"BTN"},{"id":34,"name":"Bolivia","code":"BOL"},{"id":35,"name":"Bosnia and Herzegovina","code":"BIH"},{"id":36,"name":"Botswana","code":"BWA"},{"id":37,"name":"Brazil","code":"BRA"},{"id":38,"name":"Brunei","code":"BRN"},{"id":39,"name":"Bulgaria","code":"BGR"},{"id":40,"name":"Burkina Faso","code":"BFA"},{"id":41,"name":"Burundi","code":"BDI"},{"id":42,"name":"Cambodia","code":"KHM"},{"id":43,"name":"Cameroon","code":"CMR"},{"id":44,"name":"Canada","code":"CAN"},{"id":45,"name":"Cape Verde","code":"CPV"},{"id":174,"name":"Central African Republic","code":"CAF"},{"id":173,"name":"Chad","code":"TCD"},{"id":172,"name":"Chile","code":"CHL"},{"id":171,"name":"China","code":"CHN"},{"id":170,"name":"Colombia","code":"COL"},{"id":169,"name":"Comoros","code":"COM"},{"id":168,"name":"Congo","code":"COG"},{"id":166,"name":"Costa Rica","code":"CRI"},{"id":143,"name":"Cote d'Ivoire","code":"CIV"},{"id":165,"name":"Croatia","code":"HRV"},{"id":164,"name":"Cuba","code":"CUB"},{"id":163,"name":"Cyprus","code":"CYP"},{"id":162,"name":"Czechia","code":"CZE"},{"id":167,"name":"Democratic Republic of Congo","code":"COD"},{"id":161,"name":"Denmark","code":"DNK"},{"id":154,"name":"Djibouti","code":"DJI"},{"id":200,"name":"Dominica","code":"DMA"},{"id":160,"name":"Dominican 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Guinea","code":"GNQ"},{"id":157,"name":"Eritrea","code":"ERI"},{"id":156,"name":"Estonia","code":"EST"},{"id":78,"name":"Eswatini","code":"SWZ"},{"id":158,"name":"Ethiopia","code":"ETH"},{"id":276,"name":"Europe","code":"OWID_EUR"},{"id":202,"name":"Fiji","code":"FJI"},{"id":155,"name":"Finland","code":"FIN"},{"id":3,"name":"France","code":"FRA"},{"id":153,"name":"Gabon","code":"GAB"},{"id":151,"name":"Gambia","code":"GMB"},{"id":152,"name":"Georgia","code":"GEO"},{"id":6,"name":"Germany","code":"DEU"},{"id":150,"name":"Ghana","code":"GHA"},{"id":149,"name":"Greece","code":"GRC"},{"id":206,"name":"Grenada","code":"GRD"},{"id":148,"name":"Guatemala","code":"GTM"},{"id":147,"name":"Guinea","code":"GIN"},{"id":94,"name":"Guinea-Bissau","code":"GNB"},{"id":146,"name":"Guyana","code":"GUY"},{"id":145,"name":"Haiti","code":"HTI"},{"id":457,"name":"High-income 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countries","code":"OWID_LIC"},{"id":460,"name":"Lower-middle-income countries","code":"OWID_LMC"},{"id":210,"name":"Luxembourg","code":"LUX"},{"id":118,"name":"Madagascar","code":"MDG"},{"id":117,"name":"Malawi","code":"MWI"},{"id":116,"name":"Malaysia","code":"MYS"},{"id":211,"name":"Maldives","code":"MDV"},{"id":115,"name":"Mali","code":"MLI"},{"id":212,"name":"Malta","code":"MLT"},{"id":223,"name":"Marshall Islands","code":"MHL"},{"id":114,"name":"Mauritania","code":"MRT"},{"id":213,"name":"Mauritius","code":"MUS"},{"id":113,"name":"Mexico","code":"MEX"},{"id":222,"name":"Micronesia 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Principe","code":"STP"},{"id":90,"name":"Saudi Arabia","code":"SAU"},{"id":89,"name":"Senegal","code":"SEN"},{"id":88,"name":"Serbia","code":"SRB"},{"id":233,"name":"Seychelles","code":"SYC"},{"id":87,"name":"Sierra Leone","code":"SLE"},{"id":86,"name":"Singapore","code":"SGP"},{"id":85,"name":"Slovakia","code":"SVK"},{"id":83,"name":"Slovenia","code":"SVN"},{"id":195,"name":"Solomon Islands","code":"SLB"},{"id":82,"name":"Somalia","code":"SOM"},{"id":81,"name":"South Africa","code":"ZAF"},{"id":295,"name":"South America","code":"OWID_SAM"},{"id":127,"name":"South Korea","code":"KOR"},{"id":258,"name":"South Sudan","code":"SSD"},{"id":9,"name":"Spain","code":"ESP"},{"id":141,"name":"Sri Lanka","code":"LKA"},{"id":79,"name":"Sudan","code":"SDN"},{"id":234,"name":"Suriname","code":"SUR"},{"id":10,"name":"Sweden","code":"SWE"},{"id":7,"name":"Switzerland","code":"CHE"},{"id":77,"name":"Syria","code":"SYR"},{"id":198,"name":"Taiwan","code":"TWN"},{"id":76,"name":"Tajikistan","code":"TJK"},{"id":64,"name":"Tanzania","code":"TZA"},{"id":75,"name":"Thailand","code":"THA"},{"id":74,"name":"Togo","code":"TGO"},{"id":235,"name":"Tonga","code":"TON"},{"id":73,"name":"Trinidad and Tobago","code":"TTO"},{"id":71,"name":"Tunisia","code":"TUN"},{"id":70,"name":"Turkey","code":"TUR"},{"id":69,"name":"Turkmenistan","code":"TKM"},{"id":237,"name":"Tuvalu","code":"TUV"},{"id":68,"name":"Uganda","code":"UGA"},{"id":67,"name":"Ukraine","code":"UKR"},{"id":72,"name":"United Arab Emirates","code":"ARE"},{"id":1,"name":"United Kingdom","code":"GBR"},{"id":13,"name":"United States","code":"USA"},{"id":459,"name":"Upper-middle-income countries","code":"OWID_UMC"},{"id":63,"name":"Uruguay","code":"URY"},{"id":62,"name":"Uzbekistan","code":"UZB"},{"id":221,"name":"Vanuatu","code":"VUT"},{"id":238,"name":"Venezuela","code":"VEN"},{"id":84,"name":"Vietnam","code":"VNM"},{"id":355,"name":"World","code":"OWID_WRL"},{"id":61,"name":"Yemen","code":"YEM"},{"id":60,"name":"Zambia","code":"ZMB"},{"id":80,"name":"Zimbabwe","code":"ZWE"}]}},"origins":[{"id":28284,"titleSnapshot":"LGBTI National Policy Dataset - Composite index","title":"LGBTI National Policy Dataset","descriptionSnapshot":"Pre-built country-year index panel published alongside the policy-level data, produced by the companion script Velasco_LGBTI_Index_Construction.R (codebook §5). Each of 35 policy-status combinations is scored in every country-year where it is in force, as the share of the population it covers times the average of its other indicators (scope, enforcement, and, where they apply, gender scope, penalty severity and ease of access). The Progressive Index sums the scores of the 23 progressive combinations, the Regressive Index those of the 12 regressive ones, and the Additive Index, the producer's preferred version, is the Progressive Index minus the Regressive Index. The National Index counts the progressive policies in force nationally minus the regressive ones, and the CFA Index is a variant that weights each policy's indicators by confirmatory factor analysis.","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. 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"}}]}