Policy documents across 185 countries predominantly rely on evidence from the Global North

Evidence is widely acknowledged as essential for crafting effective public policies. Despite its critical role, we know surprisingly little about the specific sources that inform decisions around the world. This paper explores the sources of evidence in the policymaking arena by analyzing evidence cited in over 1.2 million policy documents from 185 countries. Our analyses capture references to 3.5 million scholarly works and 740,000 policy sources including contributions from government agencies, academic researchers, international organizations, and think tanks. By focusing on the documented, accessible, and digitally visible evidence available to policymakers, we map global patterns of evidence use, highlighting regional and policy domain variation. Our findings reveal a pronounced concentration of attention: the vast majority of cited evidence—both academic and policy—is produced in the Global North, even in documents authored by governments in the Global South. These patterns persist across policy areas, though with notable variation in the types of sources commonly used. Overall, the findings reveal a highly concentrated evidence landscape, where a small number of countries disproportionately serve as global reference points, underscoring persistent asymmetries in visibility, influence, and access within the international policy knowledge ecosystem.