GLOBALCIT: open access resource on citizenship laws

Citizenship law or nationality law is the law that defines the rights and obligations of citizenship within a country and the manner in which an individual can acquire or lose citizenship of a state. These laws vary per country and can be quite complex. Global Citizenship Observatory (GLOBALCIT) provides a helpful overview of relevant laws in over 170 countries.

GLOBALCIT is an online source of information on citizenship laws as well as electoral rights worldwide. It offers open access to a comprehensive collection of data and analyses for academic researchers.

Based at the European University Institute, GLOBALCIT makes use of a large network of country experts who write country reports and provide input for comparative databases on citizenship and electoral rights. Over 300 open access publications are currently available.

Additionally, various kinds of other resources are published on the website:

• Country profiles: up-to-date reports and legislation on citizenship and electoral rights in more than 140 countries.
• Legal databases: search collections of nationality laws, citizenship case law, and electoral laws. The search results include links to full texts.
• Comparative databases: compare the modes of acquisition of citizenship and loss of citizenship in 175 countries or the conditions for electoral rights across 50 countries.
• Indicators: measure the inclusiveness of legal provisions. Data visualisation is currently enabled, but it is possible to download files containing the Citizenship Law Indicators and Electoral Law Indicators.
• Forum debates: online discussions on citizenship with contributions by experts in the field.
• Blog: comments on recent developments and analyses of current issues.