Global Data Privacy Laws 2023: 162 National Laws and 20 Bills

Abstract

This paper is part of the 8th series of assessments of developments of data privacy laws since 2011. It assesses the new data privacy laws and Bills since 2021. Other papers in the series assess the current state of international agreements on data privacy, and of international cooperation among data protection authorities. The Tables which document these matters for all countries are published separately.

From February 2021 to March 2023 seventeen new countries enacted data privacy laws, bringing the total to 162 globally. They vary greatly in content but many continue to show strong influence of the EU's GDPR. At least twenty other countries without data privacy laws currently have Bills for such new laws. This leaves 36 UN member states with neither Acts nor Bills, the majority of which are from either Africa or the Pacific Islands.

The USA and India had notable failures to enact new laws in this period.

It seems likely that most of these countries without data privacy laws at present will eventually develop them, resulting in data privacy laws becoming ubiquitous across the globe, probably within this decade.

Keywords: global, data protection, privacy, laws, 2023