Global Studies Research Guide

The following government & open web resources are a good source of general facts and statistics on various regions and countries across the globe. For more detailed country statistics, see the area specific resources page.

• Pew Research Center: Global Attitudes & Trends – Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
• OECD – A great source of international statistics on social, education, and financial issues.
• CIA World Factbook – Facts and statistics on specific countries. Select your country from the drop down menu located on the right-center of the page.
• BBC Country Profiles – Full profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions. Select a country, territory or international organisation from the menus below.
• World Health Organization (WHO) Statistics – The country statistical pages bring together the main health data and statistics for each country, as compiled by WHO and partners in close consultation with Member States, and include descriptive and analytical summaries of health indicators for major health topics.
• United Nations Statistics Division – Provides a global centre for data on international trade, national accounts, energy, industry, environment and demographic and social statistics gathered from national and international sources.
• World Bank Data Catalog – The Data Catalog is designed to make World Bank’s development data easy to find, download, use, and share. It includes data from the World Bank’s microdata, finances and energy data platforms, as well as datasets from the open data catalog.
• U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets – National statistics about land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations, organized by country.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Country Profiles – The FAO Country Profiles collects information from the entire FAO website and provides a fast and reliable way to access country-specific information with no need to search through individual databases and systems. It also includes a direct link to the Country website for in-depth information.
• Domestic and International Statistics Resources – a list of statistical agencies or bureaus in many countries, from Algeria to Yugoslavia, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Links to international organizations are also provided.