Domestic and International Common Language Database (DICL)

The database contains index measures of linguistic similarity both domestically and internationally. The domestic measures capture linguistic similarities present among populations within a single country while the international indexes capture language similarities between two different countries. The indexes reflect three aspects of language: common official languages, common native languages, and linguistic proximity across languages. This database has many uses, such as in in models of bilateral flows—including FDI, migration, and international trade—as well as in regional or country level analyses. 

Extensive and detailed coverage

  • Bilateral indexes for 242 countries
  • Based on 6,534 individual languages

Download the dataset

Data is in comma-separated (csv) format. The first line of each file contains variable names. The file is compressed (zipped) and has a size of about 365kb. 

DOWNLOAD LINK for the DICL database

Recommended citation

Gurevich, Tamara, Peter Herman, Farid Toubal, and Yoto Yotov, (2021), “One Nation, One Language? Domestic Language Diversity, Trade and Welfare”, USITC Economics Working Paper 2021-01-B.

Learn more about the database

Associated working paper

Technical note

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