This data set provides selected ground temperature time series of long-term established boreholes in permafrost regions. Data include mean annual ground temperature (MAGT), borehole ID's, depths of measurements in a borehole, coordinates (lat, long, elevation), and principle investigators of the boreholes. Data comprise averaged values per year in °C from 1978 to 2016 CE at depths ranging from 3.6 to 24.4 m (mean 16.2 m) below surface. The entire data set provides n=483 temperature values and was used, including methods description, in the overview figure in Biskaborn et al. 2019 (Fig. 1).Data from the Swiss Alps are provided by the Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network PERMOS, PERMOS 2019: doi:10.13093/permos-2019-01.