Document Type

Dataset

Publication Date

2020

Abstract

The data was used in conducting research on Sexual Orientation and Gender-Identity (SOGI) Laws That Support and/or Limit International Development conducted by Thomas S. Serwatka.

A sexual orientation and gender identity legal index (SOGI-LI) was developed for 185 countries where data were available for 2018 [see Column C]. The author used data from the 11th and 13th editions of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersexual Association’s State-Sponsored Homophobia Reports (Carroll 2016; Mendos 2019).

Using the data from ILGA, the initial version of the Sexual Orientation and Gender-Identity-Legal Index (SOGI-LI) was constructed. It was supplemented by information on transgender 2019 annual report LGBT rights by country (Wikipedia’s 2019 update) [See Column E]. Sub-scores are listed in columns M-S.

Democracy Index 2018 The Economist Intelligence Unit (2019) provides an indexed score on the democratic rule for 167 countries (See Column F) of which 151 were included in the current study on 185 nations. The Democracy Index scores could range from 0 to 10 points and were based on five subscales listed in columns U-Y.

World Happiness Report The World Happiness Report was first published in April 2012, with the support of the United Nations (Helliwell et al. 2019). The survey is administered to at least 1,000 and up to 3,000 participants from each of 150 countries across the globe. The single question survey asks respondents to rate their level of happiness over the past year:

Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time? [National Scores in Column G]

Scores represent a three-year rolling average. In post-hoc analyses, the responses are found to strongly relate to GDP per-capita, social support systems, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices. [Correlated data tracked in columns Z-AE]

Per-capita GDP Data on the 2018 per-capita GDP for 171 of the countries included in the study were downloaded from Knomea, which drew the data from The World Bank (2018) [Column H]

Educational Level Data on the educational levels for 138 of the 185 nations under study were drawn from the World Data Atlas (2017). These data are presented as the percentage of the adult population that had completed a tertiary (post-secondary) education program [Column I].

Religious Freedom For this study, religious freedom was assessed using Pew Research Center’s Religion Restrictions Index Scores (2019). There are two scales – Government Restriction Index (GRI) [Column J] and Social Hostilities Index (SHI) [Column L]. Each yields a separate score ranging from 0 to 10, with 0 representing the fewest governmental restrictions or the fewest reported incidences of social hostilities. The data used to score each country were drawn from 21 different sources.

Degree of Religiosity The results of a Gallup survey in which respondents were asked whether religious beliefs were an important part of the individual’s daily life were used to assess religiosity in each country [Column K]. The poll takers interviewed 1,000 people from each country, face-to-face or by telephone.

Predominant Major Religious Group The major religions in each country were drawn from the Pew Research Center (2012). For the current study, 50% or more of the population had to declare following the same religion for it to be selected as a possible predominant faith. In addition, religions with 50% or more followers had to be at least 20% higher than the next most often selected religion. Possible options were Christian (n=110 countries), Muslim (n= 43), Buddhist (n=7), Hindu (n= 2), Judaism (n= 1), or indigenous faith (n= 1). [Column D]

Geographic Data appear in columns A and B

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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