What unites the world's constitutions

Every constitution in force, read through one set of 387 topics. The topics almost all of them share, the ones few do, and which constitutions resemble each other most.

Shared ground

Each bar is the share of constitutions that contain the topic. Click a topic to see who has it, read the clause in several countries, and compare it with its neighbours in meaning.

On the globe

Pick a constitution and every country is shaded by how much of its text covers the same topics. With only a topic chosen, countries whose constitution has it light up. Click a country to select it.

The constitutional map

Each dot is a constitution, placed so that documents covering similar topics sit close together (classical scaling of topic overlap). Colour is region, size is how many topics the text covers. Click one to see its nearest relatives and what makes it unusual.