Published on: 17 April 2023 | Last updated: 1 November 2023
ACLED data are widely used for trend monitoring, early warning, and risk analysis that supports and informs operational safety and security decision making. ACLED data are used by individuals, media outlets, scholars, policymakers, and practitioners around the world for a wide range of applications, from risk assessments and early warning initiatives to human rights advocacy and academic research.
There are limitations to the application of ACLED data. ACLED data are granular, comprehensive, and near real-time. But these data are not collected or organized to be a primary source for day-to-day operational safety and security monitoring, for example. Data are available down to the day level (e.g. 6 June 2020), but not to a specific time of day an event took place; data are available to the city/village level (e.g. Atlanta, Georgia, USA), rather than street level; in some unique cases, large cities may be disaggregated into the neighborhood level. ACLED data do not contain personally identifiable information (e.g. names of individuals or mobile device IDs), and cannot be used to track individuals.
