Marriage for same-sex partners, 1950 to 2025

Marriage for same-sex partners
Country or region
1950
2025
AfghanistanBanned
AlbaniaBanned
AlgeriaBanned
AndorraLegal
AngolaBanned
Antigua and BarbudaUnrecognized
ArgentinaLegal
ArmeniaBanned
AustraliaLegal
AustriaLegal
AzerbaijanBanned
BahamasBanned
BahrainBanned
BangladeshBannedBanned
BarbadosUnrecognized
BelarusBanned
BelgiumLegal
BelizeUnrecognized
BeninBanned
BhutanUnrecognized
BoliviaCivil union or other partnership
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBanned
BotswanaUnrecognized
BrazilLegal
BruneiBanned
BulgariaBanned
Burkina FasoBanned
BurundiBanned
CambodiaBanned
CameroonBanned
CanadaLegal
Cape VerdeBanned
Central African RepublicBanned
ChadBanned
ChileLegal
ChinaCivil union or other partnership
ColombiaLegal
ComorosBanned
CongoBanned
Costa RicaLegal
Cote d'IvoireBanned
CroatiaCivil union or other partnership
CubaUnrecognizedLegal
CyprusCivil union or other partnership
CzechiaCivil union or other partnership
Democratic Republic of CongoBanned
DenmarkLegal
DjiboutiUnrecognized
DominicaUnrecognized
Dominican RepublicBanned
East TimorBanned
EcuadorLegal
EgyptBanned
El SalvadorBanned
Equatorial GuineaUnrecognized
EritreaUnrecognized
EstoniaLegal
EswatiniUnrecognized
EthiopiaBanned
FijiBanned
FinlandLegal
FranceLegal
GabonBanned
GambiaBanned
GeorgiaBanned
GermanyLegal
GhanaBanned
GreeceLegal
GrenadaUnrecognized
GuatemalaBanned
GuineaBanned
Guinea-BissauBanned
GuyanaBanned
HaitiUnrecognized
HondurasBanned
HungaryCivil union or other partnership
IcelandLegal
IndiaUnregistered cohabitation
IndonesiaBanned
IranUnrecognizedBanned
IraqBanned
IrelandLegal
IsraelCivil union or other partnership
ItalyUnrecognizedCivil union or other partnership
JamaicaBanned
JapanBanned
JordanBanned
KazakhstanBanned
KenyaBanned
KiribatiUnrecognized
KuwaitBanned
KyrgyzstanBanned
LaosBanned
LatviaCivil union or other partnership
LebanonBanned
LesothoBanned
LiberiaBanned
LibyaBanned
LiechtensteinLegal
LithuaniaBanned
LuxembourgLegal
MadagascarBanned
MalawiBanned
MalaysiaBannedBanned
MaldivesBanned
MaliBanned
MaltaLegal
Marshall IslandsBanned
MauritaniaBanned
MauritiusUnrecognized
MexicoLegal
Micronesia (country)Unrecognized
MoldovaBanned
MonacoUnrecognizedCivil union or other partnership
MongoliaBanned
MontenegroCivil union or other partnership
MoroccoUnrecognized
MozambiqueBanned
MyanmarUnrecognized
NamibiaForeign same-sex marriages recognized only
NauruBanned
NepalAmbiguous
NetherlandsLegal
New ZealandLegal
NicaraguaBanned
NigerUnrecognized
NigeriaBanned
North KoreaBanned
North MacedoniaBanned
NorwayLegal
OmanBanned
PakistanUnrecognized
PalauBanned
PanamaBanned
Papua New GuineaUnrecognized
ParaguayBanned
PeruBanned
PhilippinesBanned
PolandUnregistered cohabitation
PortugalLegal
QatarBannedBanned
RomaniaBanned
RussiaBanned
RwandaBanned
Saint Kitts and NevisUnrecognized
Saint LuciaUnrecognized
Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesBanned
SamoaUnrecognized
San MarinoCivil union or other partnership
Sao Tome and PrincipeUnrecognized
Saudi ArabiaBanned
SenegalBanned
SerbiaBanned
SeychellesUnrecognized
Sierra LeoneBannedBanned
SingaporeBanned
SlovakiaUnregistered cohabitation
SloveniaLegal
Solomon IslandsBanned
SomaliaBanned
South AfricaLegal
South KoreaUnrecognizedForeign same-sex marriages recognized only
South SudanBanned
SpainLegal
Sri LankaUnrecognized
SudanBanned
SurinameForeign same-sex marriages recognized only
SwedenLegal
SwitzerlandLegal
SyriaBannedBanned
TaiwanLegal
TajikistanBanned
TanzaniaBanned
ThailandBannedLegal
TogoBanned
TongaBanned
Trinidad and TobagoUnrecognizedUnrecognized
TunisiaUnrecognized
TurkeyBanned
TurkmenistanBanned
TuvaluBanned
UgandaBanned
UkraineBanned
United Arab EmiratesBanned
United KingdomLegal
United StatesLegal
UruguayLegal
UzbekistanBanned
VanuatuBanned
VenezuelaBanned
VietnamBanned
YemenBanned
ZambiaBanned
ZimbabweBanned
Data

Marriage for same-sex partners

See all data and research on:

About this data

Marriage for same-sex partners
Describes the legislation status of same-sex marriage. This is marriage and marriage recognition between two people of the same biological sex and/or gender identity.
Source
Equaldex (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
April 7, 2025
Next expected update
April 2026
Date range
1950–2025

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Equaldex is a collaborative knowledge base for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) movement. The site aims to crowdsource every law related to LGBT rights to provide a comprehensive and global view of the LGBT rights movement.

Retrieved on
April 7, 2025
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
LGBT Rights by Country & Travel Guide | Equaldex. (2025). https://www.equaldex.com/

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline
Notes on our processing step for this indicator
  • We have extracted the data from the official Equaldex JSON API.
  • We combine the historical and current data extracted from the API to create a time series.
  • Whenever policy implementation dates for a status are not provided in the data, and this status is the only available for the country, we consider that this status has not changed during the entire period of the dataset.
  • We group some of the categories the source has defined for each issue, for further clarity in our visualizations.
  • We present this data only for sovereign states, defined by Butcher and Griffiths (2020). We use the definitions of the latest year available.

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Marriage for same-sex partners”, part of the following publication: Bastian Herre and Pablo Arriagada (2023) - “LGBT+ Rights”. Data adapted from Equaldex. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/marriage-same-sex-partners-equaldex [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Equaldex (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Equaldex (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Marriage for same-sex partners” [dataset]. Equaldex, “Equaldex” [original data]. Retrieved April 8, 2025 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/marriage-same-sex-partners-equaldex