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ParlaIberoPlenary debates, turn by turn
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Countries

What is there, and since when?

One row per chamber and one column per year, from 1976 to 2025: of 800 cells, 527 have at least one session. Each row opens its country page.

Coverage: what there is for each chamber, year by year

How to read the grid

  • Shaded: that year there is at least one session in the database. It does not mean that all of them are there.
  • Outlined and labeled: declared gap. These are years within the series that the chamber's repository does not have.
  • Empty: a year before the start of that chamber's series.

The shade shows how many speech turns there are that year. The cut points are printed next to the scale.

Speech turns

63115,753
7,45311,67115,97727,133

The shade shows how much material there is, not how much debate. Absence never carries color.

  1. PortugalPT4,9391,554,381
  2. SpainES3,559558,940
  3. EcuadorEC6,1051,280,822
  4. ArgentinaAR1991–20001,086256,636
  5. UruguayUY2,813421,284
  6. MexicoMX2,537630,937
  7. ParaguayPY2001–2002, 2006–2007, 2011–20121,275360,201
  8. ChileCL4,336556,679
  9. Costa RicaCR5,343375,730
  10. PeruPE3,061849,499
  11. PanamaPA3,638508,324
  12. ColombiaCO1,608463,201
  13. GuatemalaGT2,039251,720
  14. Dominican RepublicDO2,225101,381
  15. BrazilBR7,7311,649,698
  16. El SalvadorSV42348,654

Each row is a chamber; each column, a year. A filled cell means that the database has at least one session from that year, not that all of them are there. The shade shows how much material there is, not how much debate. The series start in different years: before the start the cell is empty, and it is not a gap.

Below the grid, without cells, the five countries from a universe of 21 that have no corpus. Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua do not publish the records of their debates. Bolivia publishes them without digitizing them. Honduras publishes summaries of what was discussed, not the interventions.

There are five countries missing. It is worth saying why.

  • Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua — do not publish the records of their debates.

  • Bolivia — publishes them without digitizing them.

  • Honduras — publishes summaries of what was discussed, not the interventions.

A single criterion: that a record of the plenary debate exists in the form of speeches. Where it exists, it is here.

Download the figure dataThese are aggregate data.

Opens in Harvard Dataverse.

Coverage: what there is for each chamber, year by year
CountryChamberRecordPeriodYears with a sessionDeclared gapsSessionsRowsSpeech turnsDOI
PortugalAssembleia da RepúblicaDiário da Assembleia da República, I Série1976–2025504,9391,559,3201,554,38110.7910/DVN/VRPUFU
SpainCongreso de los DiputadosDiario de Sesiones (Pleno, Diputación Permanente, sesiones de 1977-79)1977–2025493,559562,514558,94010.7910/DVN/OKHGAB
EcuadorCámara Nacional de Representantes / Congreso Nacional / Asambleas Constituyentes / Asamblea NacionalActas1979–2025476,1051,292,5961,280,82210.7910/DVN/M2QJN6
ArgentinaCámara de Diputados de la NaciónDiario de Sesiones1983–2025331991–20001,086258,808256,63610.7910/DVN/IVNYID
UruguayCámara de RepresentantesDiario de Sesiones1985–2025412,813424,097421,28410.7910/DVN/KI1AOC
MexicoCámara de DiputadosDiario de los Debates1988–2025382,537633,474630,93710.7910/DVN/0IS1YE
ParaguayCámara de DiputadosDiario de Sesiones1988–2025322001–2002, 2006–2007, 2011–20121,275362,945360,20110.7910/DVN/PDX8GA
ChileCámara de Diputadas y DiputadosBoletín de sesión1990–2025364,336596,729556,67910.7910/DVN/IKBNRL
Costa RicaAsamblea LegislativaActas de la Sesión Plenaria1994–2025325,343381,976375,73010.7910/DVN/W6UAHQ
PeruCongreso de la RepúblicaDiario de los Debates1995–2025313,061852,560849,49910.7910/DVN/7MK94V
PanamaAsamblea Nacional (Legislativa hasta 2004)Actas del Pleno1996–2025303,638511,962508,32410.7910/DVN/Y8FUSX
ColombiaCámara de RepresentantesGaceta del Congreso (actas de plenaria)2000–2025261,608464,805463,20110.7910/DVN/TYYERX
GuatemalaCongreso de la RepúblicaDiario de Sesiones2000–2026272,039253,759251,72010.7910/DVN/NH5TTC
Dominican RepublicCámara de DiputadosActas de sesión del Pleno2001–2025252,225229,325101,38110.7910/DVN/DZKXUG
BrazilCâmara dos DeputadosNotas taquigráficas (Íntegra das sessões)2003–2025237,7311,657,1131,649,69810.7910/DVN/VTXNW3
El SalvadorAsamblea LegislativaVersión taquigráfica2018–2025842349,07748,65410.7910/DVN/MUJU6A
Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua— do not publish the records of their debates.
Bolivia— publishes them without digitizing them.
Honduras— publishes summaries of what was discussed, not the interventions.

Deposited edition: what each DOI returns. Not all rows are speech; that is why both columns are shown.

Download the figure datacobertura.csv

CSV and Excel, with their README. These are aggregate data.

WHAT IT MEASURES
For each chamber and each year between 1976 and 2025: whether the database has at least one session, how many sessions, and how many speech turns.
DENOMINATOR
A total of 800 cells, one per chamber and year. Of these, 527 have at least one session.
CAVEAT
A filled cell means that there is at least one session from that year, not that all of them are there. The shade shows how much material there is, not how much debate. Before the start of a series the cell is empty, and it is not a gap. A declared gap is a span of years within the series that the chamber's repository does not have, and it carries its label. There are five countries missing from a universe of 21. Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua do not publish the records of their debates. Bolivia publishes them without digitizing them. Honduras publishes summaries of what was discussed, not the interventions.

Before comparing countries

The legislature (the term each Record prints) does not mean the same thing in two countries. Rates are compared within a country, over time. Between countries, only with the denominator in plain view.

The sixteen chambers

  • Portugal

    PT 1976–2025

    Assembleia da República

  • Spain

    ES 1977–2025

    Congreso de los Diputados

  • Ecuador

    EC 1979–2025

    Cámara Nacional de Representantes / Congreso Nacional / Asambleas Constituyentes / Asamblea Nacional

  • Argentina

    AR 1983–2025 (except 1991–2000)

    Cámara de Diputados de la Nación

  • Uruguay

    UY 1985–2025

    Cámara de Representantes

  • Mexico

    MX 1988–2025

    Cámara de Diputados

  • Paraguay

    PY 1988–2025 (except 2001–2002, 2006–2007, 2011–2012)

    Cámara de Diputados

  • Chile

    CL 1990–2025

    Cámara de Diputadas y Diputados

  • Costa Rica

    CR 1994–2025

    Asamblea Legislativa

  • Peru

    PE 1995–2025

    Congreso de la República

  • Panama

    PA 1996–2025

    Asamblea Nacional (Legislativa hasta 2004)

  • Colombia

    CO 2000–2025

    Cámara de Representantes

  • Guatemala

    GT 2000–2026

    Congreso de la República

  • Dominican Republic

    DO 2001–2025

    Cámara de Diputados

  • Brazil

    BR 2003–2025

    Câmara dos Deputados

  • El Salvador

    SV 2018–2025

    Asamblea Legislativa