{"chart":{"title":"LGBT+ Rights Index","subtitle":"The index captures the extent to which LGBT+ people have the same rights as straight and cisgender people. It combines 35 policy measures, such as the legality of same-sex relationships, marriage, and gender marker changes. Higher values indicate more rights; negative values indicate that regressive policies dominate.","citation":"Velasco (2026)","originalChartUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/lgbt-rights-index","selection":["World","Asia","Africa","North America","South America","Europe","Oceania"]},"columns":{"LGBTI Composite Policy Index":{"titleShort":"LGBTI Composite Policy Index","titleLong":"LGBTI Composite Policy 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.","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.","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.","shortUnit":"","unit":"","timespan":"1991-2025","type":"Numeric","owidVariableId":1354582,"shortName":"composite_index","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. “LGBTI Composite Policy Index – Velasco” [dataset]. Velasco, “LGBTI National Policy Dataset 3.0” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/1354582.metadata.json"}},"dateDownloaded":"2026-10-31"}