Skip to content
AV
World Watch/State of Regulation

Original research

The State of Technology Regulation 2026

How 205 countries regulate technology across 8 policy domains. Every figure below is computed from 6,566 dated records, each linked to an official source, and recomputed daily. Free to cite and quote with attribution.

205
countries
8
policy domains
6,566
sourced records
1,640
named laws tracked

Key findings

164of 205 countries have a comprehensive data-protection law

Data privacy is the most universally regulated domain: 80% of countries have a comprehensive statute, and only 7 have nothing at all.

5of 205 countries ban crypto outright

Outright prohibition is rare. Far more common is active rule-building: 104 countries are developing a regime and 65 already have one.

34of 205 countries have a comprehensive AI law

AI is the least mature domain. 62 countries have guidelines only, 59 have proposals in progress, and 39 have no AI rules at all.

156of 205 countries run a payments licensing regime

Payments is the most settled commercial domain, with 76% of countries operating a formal licensing regime.

56of 205 countries offer a dedicated digital-nomad visa

Most remote workers still arrive via another route: 108 countries have no dedicated visa but a workable alternative, while 39 offer no pathway.

46of 205 countries impose heavy online restrictions

Online-safety regimes split sharply between content protection and content control: 36 countries have a comprehensive law while 46 operate heavy restrictions.

Regulatory activity is accelerating

Dated regulatory events recorded per year. Activity grew 257% between 2019 and 2025 (2026 is a partial year).

2019
305
2020
323
2021
424
2022
473
2023
640
2024
898
2025
1,090
2026
543

Full breakdown by domain

Crypto & Digital Assets

See ranking →
Developing
104 (51%)
Regulated
65 (32%)
Unclear
29 (14%)
Banned
5 (2%)
Restricted
2 (1%)

Artificial Intelligence

See ranking →
Guidelines only
62 (30%)
Proposed
59 (29%)
No framework
39 (19%)
Comprehensive law
34 (17%)
Sectoral rules
11 (5%)

Data & Privacy

See ranking →
Comprehensive law
164 (80%)
Sectoral rules
19 (9%)
Proposed
15 (7%)
No framework
7 (3%)

Digital Payments & Fintech

See ranking →
Licensing regime
156 (76%)
Partial
47 (23%)
No framework
1 (0%)
Proposed
1 (0%)

Digital Nomad & Residency

See ranking →
Via other route
108 (53%)
Dedicated visa
56 (27%)
No pathway
39 (19%)
Unclear
2 (1%)

Internet & Online Safety

See ranking →
Partial
115 (56%)
Heavy restriction
46 (22%)
Comprehensive law
36 (18%)
Proposed
4 (2%)
No framework
4 (2%)

Cybersecurity

See ranking →
Comprehensive law
97 (47%)
Sectoral rules
89 (43%)
Proposed
18 (9%)
No framework
1 (0%)

Starting a Business

See ranking →
Moderate
122 (60%)
Easy
67 (33%)
Restricted
16 (8%)

Cite this research

This dataset is free to use for reporting and research under CC BY 4.0, with attribution and a link back.

Citation

Verma, A. (2026). The State of Technology Regulation. World Watch. Retrieved from https://anuragverma.co/worldwatch/state-of-regulation

Embed / attribution HTML
<a href="https://anuragverma.co/worldwatch/state-of-regulation">The State of Technology Regulation 2026</a> - World Watch by Anurag Verma

Methodology

Each country-domain pair is assigned a status from a fixed vocabulary, supported by a named primary law or regime and a dated timeline of decisions, enforcement actions and incidents. Records are gathered continuously from official channels: regulators, central banks, gazettes and government publications. Every one of the 6,566 records carries a source link. Figures on this page are recomputed daily from the live dataset.

Full definitions, status vocabularies, sourcing rules and update cadence are documented in the World Watch methodology. Corrections are welcome and applied to the live dataset.

Not legal advice. Statuses summarise a regime and can change. Explore the interactive map →