Research Guides: How to Find Country Information: Largely Statistical

Internet Resources

Selected Web Resources

Some of these are free web resources. Others will require authentication when you first click on them.

African Statistics
Stanford University's has created a fabulous page of statistical sources especially for Africa called African Statistics, part of the library's larger guide to internet resources on Africa South of the Sahara.
CIA World Factbook
This is the latest version on the CIA's website.
CIA World Factbook 1981 - current
This is PDFs of all of the volumes of the original print source.
CountryWatch
Current lengthy historical, political, and economic profiles of 191 countries in downloadable pdf files. Main audience is corporate world, emphasis on information related to investment climate, e.g. taxation, stock market, environmental controls. In addition to the statistics within the profiles, there are searchable datafiles that go back to 1993, although the dates available varies somewhat.
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Click on the tab labeled CountryWatch Data to go directly to the statistics. There are over 250 separate data elements. It will take patience to scroll through. The order appears random, so you need to read them all very, very carefully.
DataFinder (Population Reference Bureau)
International statistics are grouped in 7 categories: Demographics, Economic, Education, Environment, Health, HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health. These are snapshots, not time series.
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Searching is difficult as you must know the terms being used. Best to browse.
Demographic Yearbook
This UN publication provides the most detailed statistics on the population. All the Demographic Yearbooks are here back to 1948!
Freedom House
This site is a non-partisan, non-profit champion of democracy for over 60 years. Since 1972 it has surveyed the world and issued reports on the state of freedom in each country.
Tips:

Freedom in the World page allows you to select a country and a year, from 2002 on, and get a report.
Download the most recent full report, with comparative charts and graphs at http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/press_release/fiw07_charts.pdf
Human Development Reports
This site comes from the United Nations Development Programme. For the latest HDR data on a particular country, click on COUNTRIES in the band at the top of this page.
IDB
This is a product of the U.S. Census Bureau. You can find data from 1950 on, including projections, for 227 countries and regions. It is most useful for simple demographics and for OLD information. It is less useful and varies quite dramatically from country-country and year-year in all other areas.
Infonation
This site is a nifty little tool that allows you to get summary statistical data on one country, compare statistics for two countries, or rank six countries for any one characteristic. Look at the dates, though, and definitions, and sources, for each statistic! There is a lot of variation in currency and sources.
International Labor Comparisons
This site, a project of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has comparative statistical data on about 20 countries. The focus is the industrialized world, but, any particular data point varies.
Internet Center for Corruption Research
This site will give you the Corruption Index for various countries back to 1995. It is provided by Transparency International and Goettingen University, Germany. The goal of the site to "rank countries by the extent of corruption in public administration."
NationMaster
Compilation of statistics of all sorts from a variety of sources, all clearly cited. The aim is to allow for country-country and statistic-statistic comparisons in different formats. Nifty tool!
OFFSTATS
The University of Auckland library has put together what amounts to a country-by-country guide to a very wide range of official statistics from governments, international organizations, educational institutions, etc., freely available on the web. A great resource! At some point you may be asked to log in. Simply search for the source using Google and enter that way. Use this tool to identify sources.
Passport (formerly Global Market Information Database)
Provides 2000 data types across 11 categories: Automotives and transport, Consumer markets, Economic indicators, Foreign trade, Industrial markets, IT and telecommunications, Leisure and lifestyles, Population and households, Resources and environment, Retailing, Service markets.
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Country statistics contains historic and forecast demographic, economic and marketing statistics for 205 countries. Country profiles contain key political and economic indicators. Lifestyle indicators contain a huge range of data such as eating habits, home ownership trends and crime patterns for 71 countries. Data updated annually, historic data back to 1977 and forecasts to 2016.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
This takes you to the most current edition. Click on Earlier Editions in the band near the top to get links to volumes back to 1878. The formats, layout, and information will vary from year to year!
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There is a chapter entitled "Comparative International Statistics" that includes country-by-country (but, not always every country in the world for every statistic!) statistics on: population, growth, breakdown by age group, life expectancy, infant mortality, number of physicians, hospital beds, health expenditures, waste production, pollution, educational attainment, military expenditures, armed forces, foreign exchange rates, and many, many more for OECD member countries only.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Statistical Sites lists of links to internet sites with statistics from countries around the world. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics maintains this site. It includes links to official government sources for each country as well as the U.S.
Unesco Data Centre
Great source for education statistics! Many of the predefined tables (.XLS files) are great and contain the most current data.
United Nations Crime & Justice Information Network
Links to a variety of criminal justice statistical sources worldwide. The link to the International Crime Victim Survey often proves very useful as they provide some summary data, country-by-country, for free on their website. There is an overall crime statistics consisting of the percentage of the population victimised in one year and a further breakdown by crime, e.g car theft, burglarly, sexual offenses/prevalence rates. Another particularly useful one: Total Recorded Crime per 100,000 Popula
United Nations Statistics
Can be a challenge to navigate site, but there is a wealth of information here, some of it going back decades. What is available varies by country.
World Bank Data (Development Indicators)
This is an incredible source of data. One of the few places where you can see the Gini Coefficient through time, for example. There is a TON of information here, but it requires rigorous attention to detail and patience!!!!
World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples
Minority Rights Group International, an NGO, has been working on behalf of minorities all over the world for over 40 years. Their latest directory is available here. Historical information is available in PRINT, 1990 and 1997 editions of the directory.
World Health Organization Statistical Information System
Scan the contents. The search option is not that helpful.

Key U.S. Government Statistical Sources

These are mainly focused on the United States, but some have international comparison sections as well.

FedStats
This is like the GUIDE page to all the different agencies that have statistics. Look at all your options for displaying sources ... by agency, by topic, by database, by geography!
FastStats
This is the main stats page from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention providing detailed vital statistics -- births, deaths, life expectancy, historical & current with some international comparative data.
American FactFinder
User-friendly U.S. Census Bureau website. Includes American Community Survey, Economic Surveys, Decennial Census, Housing Surveys, Population Estimates. Beginners start with the GUIDED SEARCH!
Bureau of Labor Statistics
This is a HUGE site. Anything and everything to do with working or not working! Start with the SUBJECT AREAS pulldown menu. A few really key BLS publications are listed separately below as well.
Occupational Outlook Handbook
The government has all the data on what jobs are where and earning what, including projections. This is THE place, also, to find the names of job-related organizations that will have even more career information.
Monthly Labor Review Archive
This is THE source for hot topics related to jobs. You can browse back issues here to 1981 to look backwards as well.
Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
This is an ANNUAL summary of statistical information on the U.S. compiled from a variety of sources, not just the federal government. Older editions, back to 1878, are available as PDFs.
National Center for Education Statistics
This is THE place for anything to do with education, past, present, future. All kinds of tools & publications.

On Finding Statistics

READ THIS FIRST

Before using any of the internet resources listed in this guide, be sure to read the short, but critical, information about it!
Print Resources, i.e. BOOKS, can often
- be easier to navigate than internet sources.
- go further back in time, useful for comparisons.
Be SURE TO READ the fine print describing the statistic and its scope, limits, etc. This critical information may be in footnotes.
TWO GOOD SOURCES with definitions for novices
- CIA World Factbook's Notes and Definitions Pages
- Readers guide and notes to tables The Human Development Report's guide and notes to tables
Be alert to comparing data from different sources or over time -- you might end up inadvertently comparing apples to oranges. That usually ends badly.
There is no one great source for all country data. Think of this as a treasure hunt.
Browse the STATISTICAL CATEGORIES listing to get an idea of which source might lead you to which statistic.

Statistical Categories

CIA World Fact Book
Among the statistics given for each country in the CIA World Factbook:

Agriculture - products
Airports
Birth rate
Budget (revenues & expenditures)
Commodities, Exports
Current account balance
Death rate
Debt - external
Distribution of family income - Gini index, Inflation rate (consumer prices)
Economic aid - donor, recipient
Electricity - consumption, exports, imports, production
Ethnic groups
Exports - partners
GDP (official exchange rate)
GDP - composition by sector (agriculture, industry, service), per capita, purchasing power parity, real growth rate
Household income or consumption by percentage share
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate, deaths, people living with HIV/AIDS
Imports - commodities, Imports - partners
Industrial production growth rate
Industries
Infant mortality rate
Internet users
Labor force
Labor force - by occupation
Land use
Languages
Life expectancy at birth by sex
Literacy by sex
Major infectious diseases
Military expenditures
Military manpower
Natural Gas - consumption, exports, imports, production, proved reserves
Net migration rate
Oil - consumption, exports, imports, production, proved reserves
Population below poverty line
Population by sex & age groups
Population growth rate
Ports
Public debt
Radios
Railroads
Refugees
Religions
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold
Roads
Ships
Unemployment rate
Telephones
Televisions
Total fertility rate

Passport / Global Market Information Database
Below is a list of many of the statistics available. Categories are in all caps.

ADVERTISING AND MEDIA
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES
Air pollution
Annual rates of inflation
AUTOMOTIVES
Availability of digital exchanges
Average hourly earnings
Average monthly earnings
Average number of occupants per household
BANKING AND FINANCE
Births
Book titles published
Causes of death
Cinema and film
Civil aviation
Commercial energy consumption
Conservation
CONSUMER EXPENDITURE
CONSUMER MARKET SIZES
CONSUMER PRICES AND COSTS
Consumption of refinery products
CULTURAL INDICATORS
Deaths
Deforestation
Divorce rates
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Economically active population
Energy production
ENERGY RESOURCES AND OUTPUT
Energy reserves
ENVIRONMENTAL DATA
Exchange rates
Exports
EXTERNAL TRADE
Facsimile machines in use
Female population: January 1st
Fertility rates
GDP -- Government expenditure by category [total]
Government finance
HEALTH
Health expenditure
Higher education
HOME OWNERSHIP
Hours of work
HOUSEHOLD PROFILES
Households by facilities, by number of occupants, by number of rooms
Illness
Imports
INCOME AND EARNINGS
Income and savings
Industrial production index
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES AND OUTPUT
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Internet access
Internet penetration
LABOUR
Length of tourist stay
Libraries
Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy
LITERACY AND EDUCATION
Literacy levels and duration of education
Male population: January 1st
Marriage rates
Medical services
Merchant shipping
Metal production
Mineral production
Museums
Number of households
Nutrition
POPULATION
Population density
Population aged 0-14: January 1st
Population aged 15-64: January 1st
Population aged 65+: January 1st
Pre-primary education
Primary education
Primary energy consumption
Possession of household durables
Rail transport
Residential consumption of electricity
RETAIL DISTRIBUTION
Retail industry
Retail sales
Retailers
Road transport
Rural population
Secondary education
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Telephones
Telex subscribers
Textile production
Total capital telecommunications investment
Total consumption of pesticides
Total employed population
Total population: at mid-year
Total population: at January 1st
Total unemployed population
Tourism expenditure
Tourism receipts
Tourist accommodation
Tourist arrivals
Trade balance
TRANSPORT
TRAVEL AND TOURISM
Trends in money supply
Unemployment rate
Urban development
Urban population
Waste
Water and sanitation

Human Development Reports
Among the statistics provided:

AIDS
Armed forces
Birth
Calorie supply
Cigarette consumption
Computers
Contraception
Death
Debt
Defense
Development assistance
Disabilities
Doctors
Energy
Fax machines
Fertility
Food
Foreign aid
Foreign investment
Gender empowerment
Growth rate
Health
Health expenditures
Higher education
Housing
Human development index
Human rights
Immunization
Infant mortality
Internet
Land use
Life expectancy
Literacy
Malaria
Military
Newspapers
Nurses
Per capita GDP
Political participation
Population
Post offices
Sanitation
Science
Technology
Telephones
Televisions
Tuberculosis
Underweight children
Under-five mortality
Urban vs rural
Water
Weapons

Tips:
The tables, in the section labeled "Human Development Indicators", are only available from 1999 forward.

International Data Base (IDB)
The statistics generally available are:

Ethnicity
Family planning
Fertility and child survivorship
Households
Infant mortality
Labor force, employment, and income
Language
Life tables
Literacy
Marital Status
Migration
Population by age and sex
Religion
Vital rates

Tips:

You probably want to choose ALL AVAILABLE YEARS in the date selection area.
All listed statistics are not available for all countries.

International Labor Comparisons
Among the many topics are:

annual hours worked
employment
full-time and part-time employment
GDP per capita
growth of GDP per capita 1990-2000
hourly compensation
labor force growth
labor force participation rates
manufacturing productivity
social insurance expenditures
unemployment
unemployment rate for high school vs college degrees

Print, i.e. BOOKS, Sources

Selected Print Resources

PLEASE NOTE that these REFERENCE books can be in TWO (or more!) DIFFERENT locations depending on the year. Click on an individual title and then scrutinize the OSCAR record description that will appear to see WHERE it is and what YEARS we have. In some cases, we do not have current years in print, only electronic (see "Internet Resources" list in the column to the left).

Europa Yearbook

Europa World Yearbook

Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Africa South of the Sahara

The Far East and Australasia

The Middle East and North Africa

South America, Central America, and the Caribbean

CIA World Fact Book

Statesman's Yearbook

UN Statistical Yearbook

Unesco Statistical Yearbook 1967-1999

Human Development Report

Demographic Yearbook (United Nations)