Technical Note
Ethnic conflict, tensions, and protests: taking stock of available cross-country data

This note provides an overview of available cross-country data on ethnic conflict, tensions, and protests.

First, it documents the steps taken in the selection of 16 different relevant data sources, before they are briefly described, and their distinct aspects are highlighted. Second, it includes some descriptive analysis of selected indicators, as well as comparisons between them.

Overall, it suggests that data on ethnic armed conflict is easily accessible, especially through the GROW^up – Geographical Research on War, Unified Platform. Moreover, the updated version of the Minorities at Risk (MAR) and accompanying datasets will also provide useful data.

However, data on ethnic tensions, protests, and other types of violent and non-violent events (including the actors involved) is currently scattered across different sources, with differences in coverage and in the information provided.