Methodology
This page explains how EveryPolitician collects, organises, and maintains data about political office-holders.
Data sources
We collect data from several types of sources:
- Official government websites: Parliamentary member lists, cabinet announcements, and judicial appointments
- International databases: Global databases of world leaders and heads of state
- Wikidata: Community-maintained structured data from the Wikimedia ecosystem
All sources are documented on our data sources page.
Types
We track several categories of political positions:
National level
- Executive: Heads of state, heads of government, cabinet ministers, senior civil servants
- Legislative: Members of parliament, senators, representatives
- Judicial: Supreme court judges, constitutional court members
Subnational level
- Regional executives: Governors, premiers, chief ministers
- Regional legislators: State parliament members, provincial councillors
- Local government: Mayors, city council members
Other roles
- State enterprises: Executives of major state-owned companies
- International bodies: Representatives to international organisations
Position status
For each position, we track whether it is currently occupied and by whom. Positions can have one of several statuses:
- Current: The person currently holds this position
- Past: The person previously held this position
- Unclear: We lack precise dates to determine current status
The "unclear" status occurs when our data sources indicate someone holds or held a position, but don't provide clear start and end dates. We're working to improve date coverage over time.
Updates and accuracy
Data is updated automatically when our sources change. For Wikidata-sourced information, updates typically appear within a few days of edits being made.
If you spot an error, the best way to fix it is to contribute a correction.
