A geo-referenced global dam reservoir database is constructed by assembling several published dam inventories and latitude/longitude coordinates that are digital obtained or decided from printed maps. This database is designed for hydrological applications on river basin scale to the global scale, and 15, 317 dams with 29 dam reservoir attributes are registered in it. A shoreline polygon data of the reservoir/lake is also provided for 4, 204 dams. The total storage capacity of the registered dams is 5, 594km³, which is equivalent to the 70% of total storage capacity of all reservoirs and lakes over the world (7, 000 km³). Since geo-referenced reservoir database which covers whole global area is rarely available, the database will greatly contribute for global scale water resources analysis and impact assessment of reservoirs on the freshwater systems.