Find Politically Exposed Persons worldwide

We consolidate global data sources about public office holders into an easy-to-use dataset.

What are Politically Exposed Persons?

Politically exposed persons (PEP) is a term from the financial services industry to describe individuals who have been entrusted with a prominent public function. This might include members of cabinets, parliaments, senior public servants and military personnel, or managers of state-owned companies.

Being classified as a PEP does not imply any misconduct. However, the concept is important because PEPs and members of their families should be the subject of enhanced public scrutiny. Identifying PEPs and conducting enhanced due diligence on the origins of their wealth is mandated by financial crime laws in most countries.

Our take on PEP data

The scope of PEP data is less well-defined compared to anti-money laundering datasets such as sanctions lists. Our goal is therefore to make the scope and depth of our data coverage transparent and publish the underlying methodology.

By mapping out the political positions that should be included on a country-by-country basis, we define quality metrics that measure coverage across time, jurisdiction and level of government.

We focus on automating the collection of PEP data rather than relying on the manual monitoring political events and election results. Our ultimate objective is to help expand the coverage of political persons in community-driven data resources like Wikidata. This way, the information ultimately becomes a commodity, produced via a distributed process.

Data coverage

Our top priority is comprehensive coverage of PEPs at national level of influence.

PositionsPEPsRCAs
Africa
Eastern Africa
British Indian Ocean Territory44-
Burundi593641
Comoros4494-
Djibouti69122-
Eritrea4153-
Ethiopia921529
French Southern Territories24-
Kenya1791,2647
Madagascar814564
Malawi784077
Mauritius701481
Mayotte229-
Mozambique1237353
Rwanda712833
Réunion3115-
Seychelles45781
Somalia775204
Somaliland7102-
South Sudan1311,16312
Tanzania879995
Uganda1281,11412
Zambia80369-
Zimbabwe848949
Middle Africa
Angola1389396
Cameroon1301,08112
Central African Republic1436603
Chad1274154
Congo1117982
DR Congo1972,28812
Equatorial Guinea1867146
Gabon973626
Sao Tome and Principe4398-
Zaire-3-
Northern Africa
Algeria10573910
Egypt1141,02050
Libya793594
Morocco841,15140
Sudan1636532
Tunisia8178626
Western Sahara515-
Southern Africa
Botswana621436
Eswatini531642
Lesotho742606
Namibia663572
South Africa1,2803,29441
Western Africa
Benin642747
Burkina Faso754743
Cabo Verde53180-
Canary Islands735-
Côte d’Ivoire993785
Gambia452792
Ghana1011,28521
Guinea8932111
Guinea-Bissau59216-
Liberia521773
Mali833943
Mauritania732633
Niger774055
Nigeria16,12525,93672
Saint Helena415-
Senegal983679
Sierra Leone802991
Togo863633
Americas
Caribbean
Anguilla1325-
Antigua and Barbuda38631
Aruba2644-
Bahamas651061
Barbados76902
British Virgin Islands1741-
Caymans69106-
Cuba8764413
Curaçao832-
Dominica4870-
Dominican Republic693003
Grenada42511
Guadeloupe385-
Haiti522405
Jamaica641445
Martinique11-
Montserrat1118-
Puerto Rico81822
Saint Barthélemy321-
Saint Kitts and Nevis35494
Saint Lucia47633
Saint Martin (French Part)426-
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines42482
Sint Maarten (Dutch part)741-
Trinidad and Tobago861821
Turks and Caicos Islands19481
United States Virgin Islands620-
Central America
Belize631826
Costa Rica621818
El Salvador501615
Guatemala583958
Honduras643162
Mexico1475,579101
Nicaragua531684
Panama452066
Northern America
Bermuda41811
Canada3264,063151
Greenland93253-
Saint Pierre and Miquelon546-
United States8,35559,6401,937
South America
Argentina1451,64699
Bolivia554563
Brazil25,116118,489198
Chile1,0548,18485
Colombia6,00316,25543
Ecuador7543732
Falklands631-
French Guiana110-
Guyana531041
Paraguay582411
Peru951,20940
Suriname481936
Uruguay8696,46218
Venezuela13473816
Asia
Central Asia
Kazakhstan8863618
Kyrgyzstan683764
Tajikistan571581
Turkmenistan503156
Uzbekistan7939911
Eastern Asia
China25213,431242
Hong Kong6960856
Japan5223,497215
Macao456-
Mongolia592796
North Korea11688422
South Korea1482,532161
Taiwan1572,249123
Tibet113-
South-eastern Asia
Brunei Darussalam5413317
Cambodia7131011
Indonesia5182,274186
Laos573582
Malaysia2011,71267
Myanmar11457914
Philippines1821,835149
Singapore15,20519,69418
Thailand11976353
Timor-Leste562965
Vietnam871,20420
Southern Asia
Afghanistan1087388
Bangladesh912,07555
Bhutan3814512
India32415,050463
Iran1251,84476
Maldives592437
Nepal881,55321
Pakistan1804,52477
Sri Lanka971,12094
Western Asia
Abkhazia27128-
Armenia7881,87334
Artsakh9681
Azerbaijan9541344
Bahrain7423815
Cyprus9634623
Georgia3,7666,94050
Iraq7674918
Israel157974158
Jordan9943442
Kurdistan11-
Kuwait6827115
Lebanon7445340
Northern Cyprus61011
Oman6917111
Palestine12147358
Qatar5812116
Saudi Arabia9656567
South Ossetia (Occupied Georgia)1878-
Syria8054726
Türkiye1253,93585
United Arab Emirates10020332
Yemen9358418
Europe
Central Europe
Austria1,0193,117142
Czechia1683,033169
Czechoslovakia11,672124
East Germany157723
Germany4209,881283
Hungary1671,198101
Poland2223,894263
Slovenia27253239
Eastern Europe
Belarus2321,20443
Bulgaria1,9417,28252
Crimea434-
Donetsk (Occupied Ukraine)10622
Luhansk (Occupied Ukraine)7191
Moldova696929
Romania3,6857,64462
Russia37514,364855
Slovakia1,2462,44847
Soviet Union174,957712
Transnistria221171
Ukraine1422,749172
Yugoslavia255651
Northern Europe
Denmark6331,982172
Estonia82700178
Faroe Islands1092791
Finland11613,109157
Guernsey10931
Iceland8333725
Ireland11984352
Isle of Man20941
Jersey221071
Latvia6859327
Lithuania28839,75030
Northern Ireland192791
Norway2591,478167
Sark146-
Scotland59315-
Svalbard221
Sweden2391,859170
United Kingdom9697,7431,226
Wales511478
Åland Islands1162-
Southern Europe
Albania6457415
Andorra571033
Bosnia and Herzegovina1102525
Croatia2,2363,47915
Gibraltar1452-
Greece2501,597147
Holy See (Vatican)5154-
Italy5883,744200
Kosovo49452-
Malta1022337
Montenegro4,10411,3063
North Macedonia2,2369,8013
Portugal1451,41740
San Marino311721
Serbia911,14930
Serbia and Montenegro2999
Spain22,00283,507464
Western Europe
Belgium8152,30081
France84,61361,474950
Liechtenstein3416715
Luxembourg11537636
Monaco4013510
Netherlands7372,82885
Switzerland1161,47675
Oceania
Australia and New Zealand
Australia4692,692132
Christmas Island33-
Cocos Islands33-
New Zealand145721112
Norfolk Island513-
Melanesia
Fiji753041
New Caledonia666-
Papua New Guinea1042586
Solomon Islands471311
Vanuatu351332
Micronesia
Guam757-
Kiribati38982
Marshall Islands29592
Micronesia35662
Nauru8253-
Northern Mariana Islands630-
Palau32501
Polynesia
American Samoa524-
Cook Islands4354-
French Polynesia777-
Niue1732-
Pitcairn726-
Samoa431615
Tokelau56-
Tonga538813
Tuvalu35492
Wallis and Futuna Islands742-
Supranational
European Union703,9972
Global161143
United Nations171205

Where is our PEP data sourced from?

OpenSanctions automatically monitors and imports global databases into our data, such as lists of world leaders. We are also expanding our coverage of nationally published data, such as lists of parliamentarians or state governors. We enrich the PEP data with further information about the potential influence of officeholders, e.g. to reflect a person holding both a public office and running a business.

NamePublisherCountryUpdatesEntities
Argentina Members of ParliamentHCDN Argentinadaily258
Armenia Public Officials and AssociatesHetq Online  non-officialArmenia8,600
Austria Public OfficialsMeine Abgeordneten  non-officialAustriadaily1,673
Brazil Politically Exposed PersonsCGU Brazilweekly135,423
Bulgaria Judiciary Asset DeclarationsИВСС Bulgariaweekly7,010
Cayman Islands Members of ParliamentParliament of the Cayman Islands Caymansdaily81
Cayman Islands Senior Judicial OfficersCayman Islands Judicial Administration Caymansweekly46
China National People's Congress on WikipediaWikipedia  non-officialGlobal2,937
Colombian Joining the Dots PEPsDirectorio Legislativo/EITI  non-officialColombiadaily188
Colombian PEP DeclarationsDAFP Colombiadaily21,434
Croatia State Registry of Public OfficialsSukobu Interesa Croatiaweekly4,916
Cuba Members of the ParliamentProyecto Inventario  non-officialCubamonthly471
Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland PEPsFinanstilsynet Denmarkweekly1,869
Estonia Members of the RiigikoguRiigikogu Estoniadaily102
EU Prominent Public FunctionsOJEU European Uniondaily1,392
European Commitee of the Regions MembersCoR European Unionweekly665
European Parliament MembersEP European Unionweekly934
Every PoliticianMySociety  non-official58,345
French MayorsMIOM Franceweekly68,879
French National AssemblyNational Assembly of France Franceweekly4,054
French SenatorsSénat Franceweekly897
Georgia Public Official Asset DeclarationsACB Georgiaweekly22,921
German Legislators from AbgeordnetenWatchParlamentwatch e.V.  non-officialGermanydaily2,536
Hong Kong Legislative Council MembersHong Kong Legislative Council Hong Kongweekly195
Hong Kong Principal OfficialsGovHK Hong Kongweekly52
Iceland parliamentAlþingi Icelanddaily64
Indonesia 2018 Regional Head Election ResultsKPI Indonesia652
Israel Knesset MembersKnesset Israeldaily475
Latvian SaeimaSaeima Latviaweekly101
Lithuania Members of the SeimasSeimas Lithuaniaweekly142
Lithuania PEPs from the register of private interestsVTEK Lithuaniamonthly67,719
Mexico Chamber of DeputiesCámara de Diputados Mexicoweekly501
Mexico GovernorsCONAGO  non-officialMexico208
Mexico SenateSenado de La República Mexicoweekly129
Montenegro declarations of interests by public officialsACK Montenegroweekly15,343
Netherlands House of RepresentativesTweede Kamer Netherlandsweekly150
Nigeria Joining the Dots PEPs and PEP RelativesDirectorio Legislativo/EITI  non-officialNigeriadaily4,395
Nigerian Politically Exposed Persons data by ChipperChipper  non-officialNigeriadaily40,806
North Macedonia Elected and Appointed OfficialsSCPC North Macedoniaweekly11,444
PEPs from Chile Interest and Asset DeclarationsCPLT Chiledaily8,147
Romania FIU Public OfficialsONPCSB Romaniaweekly75
Singapore Government DirectorySGD Singaporeweekly34,436
Slovakia Public OfficialsNR SR Slovakiaweekly2,925
Slovenian Political Officials from ZvezoskopOštro  non-officialSlovenia370
South Africa Municipal LeadershipNT South Africaweekly1,565
South Africa National and Provincial LegislatorsPMG  non-officialSouth Africadaily1,960
Thailand Cabinet of MinistersSOC Thailanddaily62
Türkiye Grand National AssemblyTBMM Türkiyeweekly593
UN Heads of State, Heads of Government and Ministers for Foreign AffairsDGACM monthly1,047
United States Periodically Listing Updates to Management (PLUM) ReportingOPM United Statesdaily14,152
Uruguayan Politically Exposed Persons (PEP)SENACLAFT Uruguayweekly6,814
US CIA World Factbook Heads of State and GovernmentCIA United Statesweekly871
US CIA World LeadersCIA United Statesdaily10,990
US Legislators by Plural (formerly OpenStates)Plural  non-officialUnited Statesweekly12,573
US Members of the CongressCongress United Statesdaily1,256
US Navy LeadershipNavy United Statesdaily584
US State Department Senior OfficialsState United Statesweekly459
Venezuela Members of the National AssemblyAsamblea Nacional de Venezuela Venezuelaweekly276
Wikidata Persons in Relevant CategoriesWikidata  non-officialdaily374,903
Wikidata Politically Exposed PersonsWikidata  non-officialdaily272,585

Official sources are government authorities and inter-governmental agencies. Non-official sources are community, civil-society or journalistic organisations, including:

  • Wikidata Politically Exposed Persons data is maintained by volunteers in a similar manner to the rest of the Wikimedia Foundation projects. OpenSanctions monitors specific positions in national and sub-national legislatures, executives and senior administrators for changes. As a volunteer-driven project, there are very limited guarantees of how up-to-date the information is.
  • mySociety's EveryPolitician project contains a significant foundation of data for national legislatures. However, its maintenance ended in June 2019 and the data is quickly becoming more outdated. We aim to remove or replace this dataset in time.

How do I use the data?

You can download the PEP bulk data or look up individual entries using the web search or API. Commercial users can license the dataset as part of the OpenSanctions bulk data license. We do not offer a separate licensing option for PEPs data alone.

Our methodology documentation explains how PEP position information can be used to select custom subsets of the data for specific use cases.

How can I help?

If you want to help map out political positions and their office holders, please consider using one of the following paths:

  • Want to add or enrich individual PEP profiles? Contribute to Wikidata's WikiProject Every Politician. This is a community-driven effort to maintain a database of political positions. Like all Wikipedia projects, it has community review and verification standards. Start by getting a sense of Wikidata's political data model, and allow for a delay of several days for Wikidata edits to be reflected in OpenSanctions.
  • Want to add a bulk data crawler? Our crawlers are open source code, using the zavod data collection framework (Python). Check out the data inclusion criteria, and the crawler writing tutorial. Our data source wishlist is a good source of inspiration.
  • Want to partner up? Please feel free to reach out to us to discuss other ideas for collaboration. As we are cleaning up and enhancing the position listings above using bulk data processing techniques, individual corrections sent via email will be of somewhat limited benefit.