Stanford researchers co-launch first global database on refugee policies
A collaboration between researchers at Stanford, and two other universities, with support from the World Bank - UNHCR Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement (JDC), has produced a groundbreaking tool that addresses critical gaps in data on refugee and asylum laws across 193 countries. While low- and middle-income countries host the majority of the world’s refugees, past research has predominantly focused on high-income regions. Yet significant forced displacement also occurs within and between nations in the Global South. The database focuses specifically on people that have moved involuntarily due to violence, persecution, human rights violations, or environmental degradation. Until now, there has been no central and comparable data source on the policies that define the rights of forcibly displaced refugees and asylum seekers around the world.
The Dataset of World Refugee and Asylum Policies (DWRAP) fills this gap as the first global dataset of de jure asylum and refugee policies. Covering policies from 1951 to 2022, it allows users to track trends across all countries. The database includes filters for critical categories like access to protection, services, livelihoods, freedom of movement, and political participation, offering researchers and policymakers a rich resource for understanding the dynamics of displacement policies.
The dataset was born out of foundational research on asylum policy in the Global South by Immigration Policy Lab (IPL) researchers Christopher Blair (Princeton University), Guy Grossman (University of Pennsylvania), and Jeremy Weinstein (Harvard University, formerly IPL’s faculty director at Stanford University). An initial dataset that contributed to DWRAP, developed by Blair, Grossman and Weinstein, captured data from 92 African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian countries and 229 domestic laws addressing forced displacement in the Global South. Stanford’s King Center on Global Development invested in project management and staffing at Migration and Development Initiative (MDI), which served as a driving force in documenting asylum and refugee policies for this project, as well as designing and testing displacement research tools and programs in South-South movements. A team of over 100 undergraduate students, including over 35 at Stanford, helped with policy coding for the dataset. The JDC helped expand the dataset to global coverage and developed the final product into an interactive web tool. Both the dataset and the web tool are now hosted by the World Bank.
“DWRAP is a powerful example of the type of actionable research MDI focuses on,” explains Jessica Sadye Wolff, MDI Program Director. “What began as an effort to study forced displacement policy outside of the U.S. and Europe quickly gained traction among policymakers and the resulting tool is now making an impact in real-world policy settings.”
DWRAP codifies policies across 14 dimensions, enabling users to explore topics such as border control, legal access, healthcare, employment rights, and political participation. The database nearly doubles existing policy data, and covers all countries in the world, including low- and middle-income countries, which host 75 percent of the world’s refugees and other people in need of international protection. It provides the most comprehensive global data resource on refugee and asylum policies.
“This database is a transformative tool for understanding global forced displacement,” says Jessica Leino, King Center Executive Director. “By filling critical gaps in data, particularly in the Global South, it highlights the policies shaping the lives of millions of displaced people often overlooked in research. This data equips policymakers and researchers with critical information to understand the challenges and foster more equitable solutions.”
The database was launched on January 16, 2025 via live webinar organized by the JDC and Stanford IPL, featuring Blair and Grossman, moderated by Maja Lazić, Deputy Head, World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement.
Watch the recording of the webinar
View the Dataset of World Refugee and Asylum Policies (DWRAP)
