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Dataset · V-Dem Institute

State Authority over Territory

36 years, 1990–2025 · 174 countries

V-Dem's measure of state authority asks what share of a country's official territory the state effectively controls — where it is the recognised authority and can prevail over insurgents, armed groups or criminal organisations that reject it. It is an expert estimate, given as a percentage.

This site holds every year from 1990 to 2025, read from V-Dem Institute’s own data and stored exactly as published.

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State Authority over Territory · the file

Newest
State Authority over Territory, 2025
Held
36 years · 6,170 rows
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

0136 years

Every year

Every year comes from V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. Each opens the full table for that year; each downloads as a CSV.

1990bar height: countries covered, up to 1742025
Every year of State Authority over Territory held on this site, newest first, with its download files.
YearCountriesChangeReadDownload
State Authority over Territory, 2025Newest174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2024174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2023174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2022174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2021174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2020174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2019174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2018174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2017174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2016174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2015174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2014174±0September 26, 2026CSV
Show all 36 years
YearCountriesChangeReadDownload
State Authority over Territory, 2013174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2012174±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2011174+1September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2010173±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2009173±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2008173+1September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2007172±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2006172+1September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2005171±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2004171±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2003171±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2002171+1September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2001170±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 2000170±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1999170±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1998170±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1997170±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1996170±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1995170±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1994170±0September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1993170+2September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1992168+3September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1991165+15September 26, 2026CSV
State Authority over Territory, 1990150—September 26, 2026CSV

Every year in one file, one row per country per year: state-authority-over-territory-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv

023 columns

What’s in the file

Every column, what it holds, how it is stored and what its values look like — what a reader needs before opening the file.

Every column in the newest file of State Authority over Territory: what it holds, how it is stored, and its range.
ColumnWhat it holdsStored asRange, 2025DistinctEmptySpread
CountrycountryNameThe country’s name, as this file spells it.Text—1740
ISO Codecountry_codeIdentifierThe ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, added by this site. Every table here joins on it.Text · 3 letters—1740
Territory under effective state control (%)territory_under_state_controlHeadlineThe headline figure: Territory under effective state control (% of official territory).Number · up to 3 decimals47.56Yemen100.0019 share itmiddle 95.301160

Profiled from the newest file. Range: the lowest and highest value, with the country holding it when only one does. Spread: countries in ten equal steps from lowest to highest. A higher value is the better result.

03174 countries across every year

Who is covered

How many countries each year holds, continent by continent, who joined and who left, and which places this site covers that the dataset never has.

All regions
Countries in each year of State Authority over Territory, by continent.
201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Africa545454545454545454545454
Americas272727272727272727272727
Asia474747474747474747474747
Europe404040404040404040404040
Oceania666666666666
All174174174174174174174174174174174174

The newest 12 of 36 years.

Who joined and who left

  • 2011
    + South Sudan
  • 2008
    + Kosovo
  • 2006
    + Montenegro
  • 2002
    + Timor-Leste
  • 1993
    + Eritrea+ Slovakia
  • 1992
    + Bosnia and Herzegovina+ Croatia+ Slovenia
  • 1991
    + Armenia+ Azerbaijan+ Belarus+ Estonia+ Georgia+ Kazakhstan+ Kyrgyzstan+ Lithuania+ Latvia+ Moldova+ North Macedonia+ Tajikistan+ Turkmenistan+ Ukraine+ Uzbekistan

04Provenance

Where it comes from

The path from the publisher to this page, and what was checked and changed on the way.

The site’s method
  1. 1 · Publisher

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg

  2. 2 · Their file

    State Authority over Territory 2025

  3. 3 · Read by this site

    September 26, 2026

    Imported by a script that parses each figure and writes it down unrounded.
  4. 4 · Stored as

    36 files, one per year

    Each downloads as a CSV, or every year together as state-authority-over-territory-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv
  5. 5 · Used on

    Its statistic page, and every profile it measures

Precision

The headline is stored to 3 decimals, as published.

Rounded by this site

Never. Tables on screen may show fewer decimals; the files never do.

Changed by this site

Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

From the V-Dem Institute's Country-Year Full+Others dataset (v16), University of Gothenburg — this indicator is not in the smaller Core file — published under CC BY-SA 4.0. The series here starts in 1990 so that every row belongs to a present-day country.

05Reuse

Licence and credit

What the publisher’s licence lets you do, what it asks of you, and a credit line and citation ready to copy.

Every publisher’s terms

Licence · checked September 26, 2026

CC BY-SA 4.0

  • Share and redistribute it
  • Adapt it and build on it
  • Use it commercially
  • Credit the publisher
  • Say what you changed
  • Publish anything adapted from it under the same licence

Share, adapt and use commercially with credit — and anything you publish that adapts it must carry the same licence.

A credit line

Source: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, State Authority over Territory, via Nations Inquiry.

Cite this dataset

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg. State Authority over Territory, 1990–2025 [data set]. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/state-authority-over-territory

The publisher’s own citation: Coppedge, M. et al. V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v16. Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project, University of Gothenburg.

Plain-language summary, not legal advice. The licence text is what binds.

06Questions

State Authority over Territory: questions and answers

What is the State Authority over Territory?

V-Dem's measure of state authority asks what share of a country's official territory the state effectively controls — where it is the recognised authority and can prevail over insurgents, armed groups or criminal organisations that reject it. It is an expert estimate, given as a percentage.

Which years of the State Authority over Territory can I download?

All 36, from 1990 to 2025, each as a CSV file, or every year together in one CSV.

Does V-Dem Institute rank countries on it?

No, and this site does not order it either. The files hold values only.

Can I use it commercially?

Yes, under CC BY-SA 4.0, with credit to V-Dem Institute. The licence text is linked on this page.

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