Data Sources

A number of organizations generate data, usually quantitative data, on various aspects of politics and society in Latin America. These sources of data allow us to compare the situation in different countries and track the evolution of countries over time.

The following sources provide data on: (1) multiple issues; (2) politics and democracy; (3) states & the law; (4) development & the environment; and (5) gender, race & ethnicity.

Data Sources on Multiple Issues
    • LAPOP (Latin American Public Opinion Project)
      • A US-based research institute specializing in public opinion surveys in Latin America. It includes survey data from the bi-annual Americas Barometer and reports on various aspects of Latin American politics based on survey data.
    • Latinobarómetro
      • A private non-profit organization, based in Chile, responsible for producing Latinobarómetro, an annual public opinion survey that involves some 20,000 interviews in 18 Latin American countries
    • Statista
      • A German-based database company that provides publicly available datasets and data visualizations
    • Our World in Data
      • A research project based at the University of Oxford that provides a wide array of datasets and easy-to-read visualizations
    • V-Dem
      • A Sweden-based research institute that provides data on multiple aspects of politics and society in Latin America and the rest of the world. They allow users of their site to visualize their data.
Data Sources on Politics and Democracy
    • Comparative Constitutions Project
      • An academic project that provides a compendium of the world’s constitutions in English. The site allows for the cross-comparison of constitutional passages.
    • Freedom House
      • Freedom House publishes data on political rights, civil liberties and media freedom
    • The Fund for Peace (FFP)
      • As a nonprofit organization, FFP produces data on state fragility which highlights the pressures a state faces both internally and externally that have effect on state capacity. FFP collects thousands of reports and information from around the world, detailing the existing social, economic and political pressures faced by the 178 countries they analyze.
    • The GLOBALCIT Citizenship Law Dataset
      • Database produced by GLOBALCIT (the Global Citizenship Observatory) that covers 190 countries (including Latin Anerican countries) on the ways citizenship can be acquired and lost. The data are explained and analyzed in an accompanying working paper.
    • The GLOBALCIT Conditions for Electoral Rights 2019
      • Database produced by GLOBALCIT (the Global Citizenship Observatory) on the conditions and procedures of access to the franchise 20 countries in the Americas (and other regions, for comparative analyses)
    • The GLOBALCIT National Electoral Laws Database
      • Database produced by GLOBALCIT (the Global Citizenship Observatory) that includes voting and candidacy rights for 21 countries across the Americas (and other regions, for comparative analyses)
    • IDB (Inter-American Development Bank)
      • The IDB’s Database of Political Institutions 2020 (DPI 2020) includes institutional and electoral data such as measures of checks and balances, tenure and stability of the government, identification of party affiliation and ideology, and fragmentation of opposition and government parties in the legislature
    • IDEA’s Electoral System Design Database
      • The Electoral System Design Database has data on electoral systems around the world
    • IDEA’s Global State of Democracy Indices
      • The Global State of Democracy Indices (GSoD Indices) measure democratic trends at the country, regional and global levels across a broad range of different attributes of democracy
    • IDEA’s Voter Turnout Database
      • The Voter Turnout Database is a comprehensive voter turnout dataset, covering presidential and parliamentary elections since 1945
    • Innovations for Democracy in Latin America (LATINNO)
      • A comprehensive and systematic source of data on new institutions for citizen participation in Latin America
    • Manifesto Project
      • A dataset on political party’s electoral manifestos and policies
    • Observatorio REFPOL (Observatorio de Reformas Políticas de América Latina)
      • A site coordinated by political scientist Flavia Freidenberg with up-to-date information on various aspects of politics in Latin America, such as voting rights, gender and politics, media in electoral campaigns, political parties, and the financing of parties
    • Political Database of the Americas (PDBA)
      • A project based out of Georgetown University that offers centralized and systematized information about democracy in the Americas, including institutions and political processes, national constitutions, branches of government, and elections
    • Quality of Government Dataset
      • A comparative project that measures the quality of government and its institutions around the world, featuring most Latin American countries
    • States and Institutions of Governance in Latin America (SIGLA)
      • An online multilingual database based at Georgetown University offering information on legal and political institutions in Latin America
    • TI (Transparency International)
      • An international nongovernmental organization based in Berlin, Germany, that has chapters in most Latin American countries. It is dedicated to the fight against corruption around the world. It publishes the Global Corruption Barometer and the Corruption Perception Index, two sources of data on corruption.
Data Sources on States & the Law
    • Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) Database
      • The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) Database collects real time data on violence and contentious politics in Latin America and the Caribbean. Users can review these data and read the reports created by ACLED that analyze these data.
    • Global Witness
      • Since 2012, Global Witness has been gathering data on violence against land and environmental defenders
    • Igarapé Institute: Homicide Monitor
      • The Igarapé Institute is a Brazillian-based think tank that has created a Homicide Monitor, a database on homicide rates around the world. It has a data visualization tool that allows users to easily view statistics of homicide across the globe, with specific details on Latin American and Caribbean countries.
    • Reporters Without Borders
      • Since 2002, Reporters Without Borders has been publishing the World Press Freedom Index, a comprehensive measure of press freedom
    • Slave Voyages
      • A site that offers detailed information on the slave trade
    • UNODC
      • A UN agency that focuses on illicit trafficking in and abuse of drugs, crime prevention and criminal justice, international terrorism, and political corruption. It has published various reports, with analysis and data, on these topics. See, in particular, the annual World Drug Report and the Global Study on Homicide, which present data on various issues. 
Data Sources on Development & the Environment
    • CEPALSTAT
      • ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) is the main source of socioeconomic data in Latin America
    • ILO Statistics and Databases
      • ILO is the world’s leading source on labor statistics. It offers databases on labor laws, policies, practices and country profiles.
    • Our World in Data
      • A site with data on taxation around the world and in Latin America
    • Standardized World Income Indicator Database
      • This site presents comparable inequality estimates for all countries in the world
    • UN MDGs (Millennium Development Goals)
      • The United Nations describes the MDGs for 2015, provides goal-specific reports, and tracks and updates countries’ advancement toward the achievement of the 8 MDGs
    • UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)
      • The United Nations describes the SDGs for 2030, provides goal-specific reports, and tracks and updates countries’ advancement toward the achievement of the 17 SDGs
    • UNdata
      • As a web-based data service, UNdata provides access to specialized databases across 60 million data points related to a variety of issue areas related to development
    • UNESCO
      • The UNESCO Science Report presents data organizing STI (Science, Technology and Innovation) policies in Latin America and the Caribbean
    • WIID (World Income Inequality Database)
      • A comprehensive set of income inequality statistics available; it includes visualization tools.
    • World Bank
      • A UN development bank that compiles comparative economic and socioeconomic data for most countries and regions in the world
Data Sources on Gender, Race & Ethnicity
   GENDER
      • Center for Reproductive Rights
        • This global legal advocacy organization provides information on the state of abortion laws in Latin America and the rest of the world
      • Equaldex
        • A collaborative knowledge base for the LGBTQ+ movement, visualizing LGBTQ+ rights through maps and timelines. It provides an LGBT Equality Index.
      • Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (GEO)
        • This observatory, maintained by ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), provides data on the role of women in different offices (cabinet, legislature, judiciary, mayors, city council) as well as data on the economic and physical autonomy of women
      • Guttmacher Institute
        • A leading institute conducting evidence-based research and advocacy to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. It publishes frequent reports on contraceptive needs and unintended pregnancy, while tracking women’s access to safe abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean.
      • IDEA’s  Global Database of Quotas for Women
        • International IDEA, a Stockholm-based intergovernmental organization, publishes reports of various aspects of democracy, including the role of women. It maintains the Global Database of Quotas for Women, which provides up-to-date data on gender quotas in Latin America and the rest of the world.
      • IPU (Inter-Parliamentary Union)
        • A global institution that publishes up-to-date data on the percentage of women in national parliaments, including comparative analyses of countries and annual studies that consider historical trends
   RACE & ETHNICITY
University of Southern California