The world’s largest online community and repository of electoral knowledge. It provides comprehensive information and specialised advice on any aspect of electoral processes. The foremost aim of ACE, is to foster the integrity of elections and to promote credible, sustainable, professional and inclusive electoral processes throughout the globe.
Data and documentation for the Canadian Election Study since 1965.
A research network across Canada that addresses questions about political engagement, underrepresentation, levels of government, public opinion between and across elections, and data collection practices to studying electoral democracy.
Provides basic intelligence on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, environment, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.
Contains standards-based quantitative information on government respect for 15 internationally recognized human rights for 202 countries, annually from 1981-2011.
An independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. They host an easy-to-use database of attacks on the press.
A project to compare comprehensive data about the world’s constitutions.It aims to provide systematic data to comparative legal scholars for analysis long before they provide advice to constitution drafters.
COW seeks to facilitate the collection, dissemination, and use of accurate and reliable quantitative data in international relations. In addition to data on wars, it includes datasets on world religions, formal alliances, trade, and militarized interstate disputes, amongst others.
A comprehensive record of electoral systems created by Nils-Christian Bormann & Matt Golder. You can download the Democratic Electoral Systems, 1946-2020 dataset (Version 4.1) EXCL spreadsheet, and find the codebook and all documentation here.
ElectionAccess serves as a global clearinghouse of resources related to political participation and disability rights.
ElectionGuide is a comprehensive and timely source of election information. It covers national elections around the world, including snap elections and referenda, providing verified information on key electoral data points.
Compares elections worldwide, to address three questions: How and when do elections fail- throughout the electoral cycle? What are the consequences of failed elections, such as for security, accessibility and trust? And what can be done to mitigate these problems, based on academic evidence?
Freedom House works to defend human rights and promote democratic change, with a focus on political rights and civil liberties. Since 1973, Freedom House has assessed the condition of political rights and civil liberties around the world, which are reflected in its annual Freedom in the World Reports.
A searchable global database of gender quotas in parliaments worldwide.
IFES is a global, nonpartisan organization that collaborates with civil society, public institutions, and the private sector to build resilient democracies that deliver for everyone. As a global leader in the promotion and protection of democracy, it works in countries around the world offering technical assistance and applied research to help electoral bodies conduct credible elections.
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization that supports sustainable democracy worldwide. As well as reports, discussion papers, handbooks, and policy briefs, they also produce databases and tools on a range of issues related to democracy and elections.
The IPU's open data platform is a free resource with over 600 data points provided directly by national parliaments on their structure, composition, working methods and activities.
The IIAG assesses governance performance in 54 African countries over the latest available 10-year period. It provides a framework and dashboard for any interested audience to assess the delivery of public goods and services and public policy outcomes in African countries. The IIAG constitutes the most comprehensive dataset measuring African governance, providing specific scores and trends at African continental, regional, and national level, on a whole spectrum of thematic governance dimensions, from security to justice to rights and economic opportunity to health.
Participedia is a global network and crowdsourcing platform for researchers, educators, practitioners, policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in public participation and democratic innovations. Download their data including cases, methods, and countries covered.
The QoG Expert Survey is a dataset based on our survey of experts on public administration around the world, available in an individual dataset and an aggregated dataset covering more than 100 countries.
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) is the world’s main provider of data on organized violence and the oldest ongoing data collection project for civil war, with a history of almost 40 years. Its definition of armed conflict has become the global standard of how conflicts are systematically defined and studied.
The V-Dem Institute publishes annual datasets describing qualities of democracy, inclusivity, and other indicators across countries worldwide. These include the V-Dem Dataset, the world's most comprehensive and detailed democracy ratings, which can be downloaded free of charge.
The World Bank produces an array of data publications in various formats that cover a wide range of development issues. Their open data portal provides a wealth of data in easy-to-access and free-to-download formats.
An international research program devoted to the scientific and academic study of social, political, economic, religious and cultural values of people in the world. Access to all data, and an easy-to-use WVS online data analysis tool.
Barometers are large-scale public opinion surveys, often conducted on a yearly basis, that cover a specific theme or geographic area. In addition to providing snapshot data on public opinion at specific moments in time, because they often ask the same questions over multiple years, they also allow for time series analysis - seeing how opinions change on certain topics over time.
A cross-national survey project, which aims to generate a region-wide base of scientifically reliable and comparable data.
An annual survey of mayors and councillors in more than 400 municipalities across Canada.
Europe's most comprehensive source of public opinion polling data. It is the polling instrument used by the European Commission, the European Parliament and other EU institutions and agencies to monitor regularly the state of public opinion in Europe on issues related to the European Union as well as attitudes on subjects of political or social nature.
Global Barometer Surveys (GBS) is a collaborative research project consisting of five regional barometers. It is the first comprehensive effort to measure, at a mass level, the current social, political, and economic climate around the world. It provides an independent, non-partisan, scientific and multidisciplinary view of public opinion on a range of policy-relevant issues. Currently, the GBS network covers 70% of the world's population and is still expanding.
Created by Transparency International, the Global Corruption Barometer aims to capture the experiences of everyday people confronting corruption around the world.
Latinobarómetro is an annual public opinion survey that involves some 20,000 interviews in 18 Latin American countries, representing more than 600 million inhabitants.
Not all organizations produce data. Some - including the ones listed below - produce high-quality reports, policy briefs, and other publications that help to inform policy and practice, and that can provide useful insights into specific countries or themes.
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights.
The Arab Reform Initiative is an independent think tank working with expert partners in the Middle East and North Africa and beyond to articulate a home-grown agenda for democratic change and social justice. It conducts research and policy analysis and provides a platform for inspirational voices based on the principles of diversity, impartiality, and gender equality.
ConstitutionNet is a project created to support legislators, constitutional lawyers and other constitutional practitioners in finding useful and relevant information, sharing knowledge and building a community of best practice.
Human Rights Watch investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world. They have a series of reports, and comprehensive nation-level analyses.
The IFJ is the world’s largest organisation of journalists, representing 600,000 media professionals in 187 unions and associations in more than 140 countries. They run projects around the world.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. Each year, NED makes more than 2,000 grants to support the projects of non-governmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 100 countries.
Every year, the Open Society Foundations give thousands of grants to groups and individuals that work on the issues they focus on: promoting justice, transparency, and open debate.
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
Transparency International is a nonprofit taking action to combat global corruption with civil societal anti-corruption measures and to prevent criminal activities arising from corruption. Their Knowledge Hub provides studies, tools and knowledge about its work.
UNDP seeks to strengthen and promote inclusive, effective and accountable governance through a people-centred, systemic approach that is innovative and draws on the opportunities of digitalization. Their work in governance is organized into four interrelated and integrated workstreams: Inclusive and future-smart public goods and services; Democratic institutions and processes; Inclusive public sphere; and Integrating governance principles in development.