Dataset of World Refugee and Asylum Policies (DWRAP)

The DWRAP dataset -- a collaborative effort with Guy Grossman and Jeremy M. Weinstein -- offers an original coding of national policies on forced displacement around the world. DWRAP includes data on 54 provisions across 900+ national-level migration laws across every country from 1951 to 2022. Construction of DWRAP expands the geographic and temporal scope of asylum policy indices considerably, and represents the most expansive coding of asylum and refugee policies in the developing world to date. The corpus of laws and policies pertinent to forced migration was identified chiefly using UNHCR submissions to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a mandated, cyclical review process of UN members states organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. We conceptualize refugee and asylum policy as a combination of policy provisions regulating five core dimensions: (1) access: the ease of entrance and security of status; (2) services: provision of public services and welfare; (3) livelihoods: the ability to work and own property; (4) movement: encampment policies; and (5) participation: citizenship and political rights.
Website:      Interactive Dashboard

Data:      Full Dataset (World Bank); Replication Files (APSR); Replication Files (IO)​

Citations:

  • World Bank; with Christopher W. Blair, Guy Grossman and Jeremy M. Weinstein. 2024. “Dataset of World Refugee and Asylum Policies.” World Bank Development Data Hub.