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    [OC] Almost 40 countries have legalized same-sex marriage
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    [OC] Almost 40 countries have legalized same-sex marriage


    The Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001. Since then, almost 40 other countries have followed suit.

    You can see this in the chart, based on data from Pew Research. By 2025, same-sex marriage was legal in 39 countries.

    Last year, two countries were added to the total. Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, and a same-sex marriage bill also took effect in Liechtenstein.

    Explore all our writing and data on LGBT+ rights.

    Posted by ourworldindata

    View 19 Comments

    19 Comments

    2. w1n5t0nM1k3y on

      That’s actually lower than I thought it was. There’s almost 200 countries depending on how you count. Looking at the map on the linked page shows that it’s mostly the Western Hemisphere and Europe. The divide between countries that have legalized it and those that haven’t is basically just two halves rather than something like a checker board.

    3. whiskers4mysneakers on

      Aren’t there like 191 countries or so?

      How are we only in *almost* 40 legalized countries? God damn…

    4. Sufficient-Green5858 on

      That’s pitiful. Imagine if it said, “Almost 40 countries have given women the right to vote”

    5. DirtFem on

      Always shocked when I see that no other countries is SE Asia have same-sex marriage or even that Thailand took this long

    7. cine on

      While we still have a long way to go, I still think it’s pretty impressive that this has happened in my lifetime.

      I’m a Millennial and it seems crazy now that it *wasn’t* legalised in places like western Europe when I was born.

    8. Low_Cut_368 on

      Isn’t a line graph technically the wrong way to show this?

      So what, in late 2000 there were 0.5 countries with legal gay marriage?

    12. Jo-Wolfe on

      65
      jurisdictions criminalise private, consensual, same-sex sexual activity. The majority of these jurisdictions explicitly criminalise sex between men via ‘sodomy’, ‘buggery’ and ‘unnatural offences’ laws.

      41
      countries criminalise private, consensual sexual activity between women using laws against ‘lesbianism’, ‘sexual relations with a person of the same sex’ and ‘gross indecency’. Even in jurisdictions that do not explicitly criminalise women, lesbians and bisexual women have been subjected to arrest or threat of arrest.

      12
      countries have jurisdictions in which the death penalty is imposed or at least a possibility for private, consensual same-sex sexual activity. At least 6 of these implement the death penalty – Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen – and the death penalty is a legal possibility in Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE and Uganda.

      13
      countries criminalise the gender identity and/or expression of transgender people, using so-called ‘cross-dressing’, ‘impersonation’ and ‘disguise’ laws. In many more countries transgender people are targeted by a range of laws that criminalise same-sex activity and vagrancy, hooliganism and public order offences.
      Not included is the USA where hundreds of State laws have been passed to target and erase the identity of Transgender people. The UK is also pursuing an anti trans agenda and has dusted off a law introduced by the Thatcher government, Section 28, only removing the word homosexual and replacing it with Transgender. Whilst there was a vigorous campaign against Section 28, not a word has been said against this new Labour law.

    13. Yocta on

      We need to keep in mind that the countries not on this list aren’t homophobic per se.

      Marriage is in many cases considered a religious affair, so it can also be a case of not enforcing gay marriage upon these religions.

      So it might be more of a case of religious freedom rather than anti-homo. (Of course half the world is still very homophobic.)

      I reckon some sort of state partnership should always be an option.

    15. lndigoChild on

      In a new plan published by Kosovo government, the new Civil Code will be voted in October 2026, and legitimize same-sex marriages, among other things.

    19. Spiralclue on

      Im glad that one day I can tell my child that when I was born I couldn’t have married my wife and that it’ll be a world they don’t grow up in. On the other hand it’s sad to realize that we are still only allowed to be married in less than half of the countries of the world.