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 records 54 policy provisions, drawn from 950+ national-level migration laws in every country from 1951 to 2022. It expands the geographic and temporal scope of existing asylum-policy indices considerably and represents the most comprehensive coding of refugee and asylum policy to date. The corpus of laws pertinent to forced migration was identified chiefly using UNHCR submissions to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a mandated, cyclical review of UN member states organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

We conceptualize refugee and asylum policy as a combination of provisions regulating five core dimensions:

• Access — the ease of entrance and security of status
• Services — provision of public services and welfare
• Livelihoods — the ability to work and own property
• Movement — encampment policies
• Participation — citizenship and political rights

Explore & download

Interactive: DWRAP dashboard (World Bank)

Data: Full dataset (World Bank) · Replication files (APSR 2022) · Replication files (IO 2022)

Liberality of national displacement policy, 1980 — countries shaded by DWRAP policy-index quintile; darker blue marks more liberal de jure policy.

Liberality of national displacement policy, 2022 — countries shaded by DWRAP policy-index quintile; darker blue marks more liberal de jure policy.

Overall policy-index trajectories by country, 1951–2022. The bold line traces the global average and the red dashed line marks the international convention standard; asylum policy has grown steadily more liberal over time.

Mean displacement-policy liberality by development level, 1951–2022. Low-income countries have converged toward — and recently overtaken — wealthier states in de jure liberality.

Key references

• 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.
• Blair, Christopher W., Guy Grossman, and Jeremy M. Weinstein. 2022. “Liberal Displacement Policies Attract Forced Migrants in the Global South.” American Political Science Review 116(1): 351–358.
• Blair, Christopher W., Guy Grossman, and Jeremy M. Weinstein. 2022. “Forced Displacement and Asylum Policy in the Developing World.” International Organization 76(2): 337–378.