Career Trajectories of IO Officials
6,870 officials · 21,794 IO career records · 1852–2025
Songpo Yang
Boya Postdoctoral Fellow
School of International Studies, Peking University
Assistant Director, PKU Analytics Lab for Global Risk Politics
Political scientist specializing in global governance, elite politics, and AI-driven methods for social science. PhD from Tsinghua University with visiting research at Columbia University. Published in American Political Science Review and International Affairs.
Collaborators
Overview
A biographical database of 6,870 officials who have served at international organizations — UN agencies, FAO, WHO, World Bank, ILO, UNESCO, IAEA and many others — alongside their full career trajectories, educational backgrounds, family ties, and language skills.
Each official has up to four linked records: career history (69,473 entries, of which 21,794 are at international organizations — the rest are pre- and post-IO positions in states, NGOs, academia, and the private sector), education (17,569 degree records), relatives (8,407 ties), and languages. Career data spans 174 years from 1852 to 2025.
At a Glance
Top IOs, nationality distribution, and gender composition — drill into the tabs above for trends, education, geography, dynasties, and the full member directory.
Top 12 International Organizations
Unique officials with at least one career record at each IGO (canonicalized names).
Top 15 Nationalities
Country-of-origin distribution of tracked IO officials.
Gender Composition
Across all 6,870 officials.
Related Research & Sources
Background on the study of international-organization bureaucracies
Source paper (TBD)
Yang, S., Pang, X.
Methodology paper underlying this dataset — citation forthcoming.
Who Governs the Globe? (foundational work on IO officials)
Avant, D., Finnemore, M., & Sell, S. K. (eds.)
Cambridge University Press, 2010 — analytical framework for global governors.
International Bureaucracy (theoretical context)
Bauer, M. W., Knill, C., & Eckhard, S. (eds.)
Palgrave Macmillan, 2017 — comparative perspectives on staffing global governance.