{"chart":{"title":"Marriage for same-sex partners","subtitle":"","citation":"Velasco (2026)","originalChartUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/marriage-for-same-sex-partners-velasco","selection":["Malaysia","Cambodia","North Korea","Grenada"]},"columns":{"Marriage equality":{"titleShort":"Marriage equality","titleLong":"Marriage equality","descriptionShort":"Whether same-sex couples can legally marry, whether civil unions or registered partnerships are recognized instead, or whether same-sex marriage is banned.","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 indicator is coded as follows: **_Legal_** (marriage equality is fully implemented under national law; civil unions may also exist), **_Civil unions only_** (a national civil union or registered partnership is recognized, but same-sex marriage is not), **_Varies by region_** (marriage equality, the marriage ban, or civil unions are only partially in effect across subnational jurisdictions), **_No legal provisions_** (the law neither allows same-sex marriage or civil unions nor defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman) and **_Banned_** (the law defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman, and there are no civil unions).\n- A definition of marriage counts only if it is in a constitution, family code or marriage law that applies to everyone. In countries where each religious community has its own marriage law, such as Kuwait, Morocco or Qatar, and not every one of those laws defines the spouses' sexes, marriage is classified as **_No legal provisions_**.\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\".","shortUnit":"","unit":"","timespan":"1991-2025","type":"Ordinal","owidVariableId":1354610,"shortName":"marriage","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. “Marriage equality – Velasco” [dataset]. Velasco, “LGBTI National Policy Dataset 3.0” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/1354610.metadata.json"}},"dateDownloaded":"2026-10-31"}