WoRLD: The World Legal Rights Data Centre

Funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Government of Quebec, the World Legal Rights Data Centre (WoRLD) global databases project began in 2005. This unprecedented initiative aims to significantly improve the level and quality of knowledge and comparative data available to global policymakers, NGOs and researchers on issues of labour, education and social policy, as well as human rights and other social determinants of population health. By integrating data on a global scale, this centre will be an impetus for launching cross-country and global investigations into the relationships between public policies, health and social outcomes.

Led by Jody Heymann, WoRLD continues to build on the international database Heymann began at Harvard with the Project on Global Working Families. Under the development of Jeff Hayes, Giulia El-Dardiry, Erin Rogers, Ceyda Turan, Adele Cassola, Amy Raub, Gabriella Kranz and Chelsea Clogg, WoRLD will compare policies in 192 countries ranging from Azerbaijan to Zambia. Once completed, it will include extensive and detailed data on social and demographic conditions and public policy, specifically addressing adult and child labour, education, equality, social security, poverty, and health and wellbeing outcomes.

In compiling WoRLD, the IHSP has already begun to gather, analyze and publish data for the following initiatives: The Discrimination and Equity in Constitutions Project, surveying legal rights in 192 United Nations member-states; the Work, Family and Equity Index (WFEI) international labour initiative; the Education Initiative; the Child Labour Initiative and a series of country-specific surveys on work and equity indicators, beginning with Work Equity (WE) Canada, WE India, and WE China.