Human Rights Statistics: An Overview of Data Sources

Leave a comment Go to comments
You are here: Homepage > Human rights statistics > Data sources

Over the years, many institutions and organizations have established databases with information regarding the level of respect for different human rights. Every institution or organization usually focuses on one specific human right, or at most on a well-defined subset of human rights. As I stated here, there is as yet no general “human rights indicator” which would allow us to give a country (or the world) a single score for the level of respect for human rights generally.

Still, it is extremely important to have good data on individual human rights, and in this page I’ll try to list the available data sources for each human right. In order to do that, I established a stylized set of human rights, derived from the major international human rights instrument which is known as the International Bill of Human Rights (IBHR), comprised of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966).

I separate these rights into the 3 traditional groups of rights - freedom rights, political rights and social and economic rights. For each human right, I list and give examples of some of the authoritative measurements, if any, and I invite readers to suggest additional sources and to mention quality problems with cited sources. (I included hyperlinks to internet sites, but these links may “die” at some point in time since the owners of the sites may decide to modify these links).

1. civil rights or freedom rights

  • equality of rights without discrimination
discrimination at work: ILO
racial discrimination
number of interracial marriages: U.S. Census (U.S. data only)
sexual orientation discrimination
legality of same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples: ?
homophobia: ?
gender discrimination: Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum, World Bank
  • life
number of executions: Amnesty International
number of extra-judicial executions: Project on Extrajudicial Executions, CIRI
number of disappearances: CIRI
number of casualties of war: SIPRI, Human Security Report
number of abortions: Guttmacher Institute
legality of abortion: Center for Reproductive Rights
  • security and integrity of the person
female genital mutilation: UNICEF
number of hate crimes: FBI (U.S. data only)
number of terrorist attacks: Global Terrorism Database, National Counterterrorism Center
data on military spending and the arms trade: SIPRI
data on violence: WHO, Human Security Report
  • protection against slavery, torture and cruel or inhuman punishment (humane treatment when detained)
data on human trafficking: U.S. Department of Justice
data on prison conditions: King’s College London International Centre for Prison Studies
data on torture: CIRI
number of convictions for torture: ?
public opinion on the admissibility of torture: World Public Opinion
data on corporal punishment: Center for Effective Discipline
  • protection against arbitrary arrest or detention (arrest or detention only on the basis of a law and with prompt notice of the charges): ?
  • fair trial
independent, impartial and competent judge: World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report
presumption of innocence until proven guilty: ?
means necessary for your defense: ?
the right not to testify against yourself: ?
“ne bis in idem”, no two convictions or punishments for the same offense: ?
case reviewed by a higher tribunal: ?
  • protection of privacy, family, home and correspondence: Privacy International
  • freedom of movement and residence
number of immigrants: UN Population Division
number of visa requirements: Henley and Partners
Asylum from persecution, protection against arbitrary expulsion of nationals and aliens, the right to leave and return to your country
number of asylum seekers: UNHCR
number of refugees and displaced persons: UNHCR, UNHCR
  • the right to marry and beget a family of your choice
number of forced marriages: ?
number of child marriages: UNICEF
freedom of religion indicators: Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom
prevalence of apostasy laws: ?
prevalence of blasphemy laws: ?
  • freedom of expression (seeking, receiving and imparting information regardless of borders)
freedom of the press: Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House
number of independent media outlets: ?
number of journalists detained or killed: Reporters Without Borders
prevalence of blasphemy laws, lèse majesté laws, holocaust denial laws, pornography laws, libel laws etc.: ?
number of cases of censorship: Wikipedia
  • freedom of assembly and association (including the right to leave an association)
assembly and association: CIRI
number of political parties: ?
number of NGOs: ?

2. political rights or democratic rights

3. social, economic and cultural rights

  • social security, protection for the unemployed, the elderly, the disabled and sick persons: ILO
  • a certain standard of living, protection against poverty: World Bank
  • work, of your own choice and under favorable conditions
safety at work: ILO
forced labor and slavery: ILO
working conditions: ILO
rest and leisure, length of the working day: ILO
  • workers’ organization
free trade unions (right to form and join): ILO
right to strike: ?
  • food, clothing and housing
nutrition and child nutrition: UNICEF, WHO, WHO, FAO, FAO
homelessness: U.S. Census (U.S. data only)
  • health care
child mortality rates: WHO, UNICEF
maternal mortality rates: WHO, UNICEF
life expectancy rates: WHO
HIV/AIDS: UNICEF, World Bank
number of healthworkers: WHO
  • special protection for children and mothers
number of child soldiers: Human Rights Watch
data on child labor: ILO, ILO, UNICEF

4. meta-measurements

Apart from these measurements of individual rights, it’s also necessary to mention what I would call “meta-measurements”. These do not measure individual rights, but rather institutions, mentalities and other elements which can indicate or impact the level of respect for human rights:

^ back to top

Share