{"chart":{"title":"Countries by legal status of same-sex marriage","subtitle":"","citation":"Velasco (2026)","originalChartUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/countries-by-legal-status-of-same-sex-marriage","selection":["World"]},"columns":{"Marriage equality — Banned (number of countries)":{"titleShort":"Banned","titleLong":"Banned","descriptionShort":"Number of countries where the law defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman, and there are no civil unions.","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 — 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.","descriptionProcessing":"From the original dataset, we combined three indicators — marriage equality (legal direction), marriage equality (illegal direction, i.e. a law that defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman), and civil unions — 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 \"Banned\" 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).","shortUnit":"","unit":"countries","timespan":"1991-2025","type":"Integer","owidVariableId":1354802,"shortName":"marriage_banned_count","lastUpdated":"2026-07-15","nextUpdate":"2027-07-15","citationShort":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data","citationLong":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Banned – Velasco” [dataset]. Velasco, “LGBTI National Policy Dataset 3.0” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/1354802.metadata.json"},"Marriage equality — No legal provisions (number of countries)":{"titleShort":"No legal provisions","titleLong":"No legal provisions","descriptionShort":"Number of countries where the law neither allows same-sex marriage or civil unions nor defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman.","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 — 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.","descriptionProcessing":"From the original dataset, we combined three indicators — marriage equality (legal direction), marriage equality (illegal direction, i.e. a law that defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman), and civil unions — 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 \"No legal provisions\" 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).","shortUnit":"","unit":"countries","timespan":"1991-2025","type":"Integer","owidVariableId":1354808,"shortName":"marriage_no_legal_provisions_count","lastUpdated":"2026-07-15","nextUpdate":"2027-07-15","citationShort":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data","citationLong":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “No legal provisions – Velasco” [dataset]. Velasco, “LGBTI National Policy Dataset 3.0” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/1354808.metadata.json"},"Marriage equality — Varies by region (number of countries)":{"titleShort":"Varies by region","titleLong":"Varies by region","descriptionShort":"Number of countries where same-sex marriage, the marriage ban, or civil unions are only partially in effect across subnational jurisdictions.","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 — 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.","descriptionProcessing":"From the original dataset, we combined three indicators — marriage equality (legal direction), marriage equality (illegal direction, i.e. a law that defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman), and civil unions — 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 \"Varies by region\" 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).","shortUnit":"","unit":"countries","timespan":"1991-2025","type":"Integer","owidVariableId":1354810,"shortName":"marriage_varies_by_region_count","lastUpdated":"2026-07-15","nextUpdate":"2027-07-15","citationShort":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data","citationLong":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Varies by region – Velasco” [dataset]. Velasco, “LGBTI National Policy Dataset 3.0” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/1354810.metadata.json"},"Marriage equality — Civil unions only (number of countries)":{"titleShort":"Civil unions only","titleLong":"Civil unions only","descriptionShort":"Number of countries where a national civil union or registered partnership is recognized, but same-sex marriage is not.","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 — 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.","descriptionProcessing":"From the original dataset, we combined three indicators — marriage equality (legal direction), marriage equality (illegal direction, i.e. a law that defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman), and civil unions — 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 \"Civil unions only\" 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).","shortUnit":"","unit":"countries","timespan":"1991-2025","type":"Integer","owidVariableId":1354804,"shortName":"marriage_civil_unions_only_count","lastUpdated":"2026-07-15","nextUpdate":"2027-07-15","citationShort":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data","citationLong":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Civil unions only – Velasco” [dataset]. Velasco, “LGBTI National Policy Dataset 3.0” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/1354804.metadata.json"},"Marriage equality — Legal (number of countries)":{"titleShort":"Legal","titleLong":"Legal","descriptionShort":"Number of countries where same-sex marriage is legal and fully implemented (civil unions may also exist).","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 — 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.","descriptionProcessing":"From the original dataset, we combined three indicators — marriage equality (legal direction), marriage equality (illegal direction, i.e. a law that defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman), and civil unions — 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. 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).","shortUnit":"","unit":"countries","timespan":"1991-2025","type":"Integer","owidVariableId":1354806,"shortName":"marriage_legal_count","lastUpdated":"2026-07-15","nextUpdate":"2027-07-15","citationShort":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data","citationLong":"Velasco (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Legal – Velasco” [dataset]. Velasco, “LGBTI National Policy Dataset 3.0” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/1354806.metadata.json"}},"dateDownloaded":"2026-10-31"}