Guides: Finding Statistics & Data (A How-to Guide): International

International Statistics & Data

International Data Base (IDB): US Census Bureau
Basic demographic and socioeconomic data for almost every country in the world.

CIA. The World Factbook This link opens in a new window
An annual publication from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, with basic background information and statistics on all countries.
Access note: Freely available to the public.
UNdata This link opens in a new window
Provides access to a variety of statistical databases from the United Nations. Covering a wide range of topics including Agriculture, Education, Employment, Energy, Environment, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Development, Industry, Information and Communication Technology, National Accounts, Population, Refugees, Tourism, Trade, as well as the Millennium Development Goals indicators.
Access note: Freely available to the public.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics This link opens in a new window
Statistics on education and literacy, science and technology and culture and communication for United Nations members. Data may be printed or downloaded for analysis.
Access note: Freely available to the public.

OECD.Stat (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Many different societal metrics are available for viewing and download.
The MacroData Guide
An International Social Science Resource developed by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services.
World Values Survey
The World Values Survey (www.worldvaluessurvey.org) is a global network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life.
The WVS consists of nationally representative surveys conducted in almost 100 countries which contain almost 90 percent of the world’s population, using a common questionnaire.
UNICEF Statistics
UNICEF supports countries in collecting data related to children and women through Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), an international household survey programme. Since its inception in the mid-1990s, five rounds of MICS have been completed (in 1995-1996, 2000-2001, 2005-2006, 2009-2012, 2013-2015) and a sixth is now under way (2016-2018). As end of 2015, over 280 surveys have been implemented in more than 100 low- and middle-income countries. Each round of surveys builds upon the last and offers new indicators to monitor trends and current priorities.
IPUMS International
IPUMS-International is dedicated to collecting and distributing census data from around the world. The project goals are to collect and preserve data and documentation, harmonize data, and disseminate the harmonized data free of charge. 82 countries - 277 censuses - 614 million person records.

European Social Survey
The European Social Survey (ESS) is an academically driven cross-national survey that has been conducted across Europe since its establishment in 2001. Every two years, face-to-face interviews are conducted with newly selected, cross-sectional samples. The survey measures the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of diverse populations in more than thirty nations.
Eurobarometer
The Standard Eurobarometer was established in 1974. Each survey consists of approximately 1000 face-to-face interviews per country. The qualitative studies investigate in-depth the motivations, feelings and reactions of selected social groups towards a given subject or concept, by listening to and analysing their way of expressing themselves in discussion groups or with non-directive interviews.
UK Data Archive
Our catalogue contains data collections suitable for research and teaching purposes. They cover a wide range of economic and social themes, both quantitative and qualitative, spanning many disciplines.
UK National Statistics
Comprehensive data on the United Kingdom.

Afrobarometer
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in more than 35 countries in Africa.
African Centre for Statistics (UN Economic Commission for Africa)
ECA aims to be the first port of call for member States seeking original data to inform policy decisions. Its long term objective is to serve as a regional service centre for data on economic, social, demographic, and environmental conditions in African countries.

ESCAP Statistical Database (UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific)
The ESCAP Statistical database provides a regional perspective on development issues in Asia and the Pacific. It contains over 350 indicators disaggregated into over 1200 data series organized in 16 domains.
China Health and Nutrition Survey - CHNS
The China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) was designed to examine the effects of the health, nutrition, and family planning policies and programs implemented by national and local governments and to see how the social and economic transformation of Chinese society is affecting the health and nutritional status of its population.

Latin American Public Opinion Project
LAPOP is the premier academic institution carrying out surveys of public opinion in the Americas, with over thirty years of experience. As a center for excellence in survey research, LAPOP uses "gold standard" approaches and innovative methods to carry out targeted national surveys; conduct impact evaluation studies; and produce reports on individual attitudes, evaluations, and experiences.
CEPALSTAT (UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean)
Access more than 2000 internationally comparable statistics and indicators of Latin America and the Caribbean countries as well as Country Profiles and infographics.

UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
The Statistics Division at ESCWA not only acts as a regional focal point for the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), other organizations and member States, but strives to improve the production and dissemination of high quality socioeconomic statistics and indicators in the Arab region. It provides member States with support to strengthen their national statistical systems.
Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) - Qatar University
Nationally representative (Qatar) survey datasets available publicly. About SESRI: The Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI), with a research and an educational mission, has been established at Qatar University to conduct high-quality survey research of current and future social and economic issues. SESRI is an initiative of Qatar University, in association with the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan.

IMF Data
Data from the International Monetary Fund, including International financial Statistics, Balance of Payment Statistics, Government Finance Statistics, and Direction of Trade Statistics

International Financial Statistics This link opens in a new window
From the International Monetary Fund; approximately 32,000 time series covering more than 200 countries and areas.
Dates Covered: 1948-present.
Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
Provides online access to detailed, accurate and comprehensive global company data for both national and international companies.
Passport This link opens in a new window
Market research database providing statistics and analysis on companies, industries, economies, and consumers worldwide.
Access note: Some users might encounter a single sign-on (SSO) prompt in error and subsequent link to “Contact your institution." We recommend first trying a different browser or clearing cookies to see if doing so resolves the issue.
Access note: Not available to walk-in users.
World Bank This link opens in a new window
Extensive information on the five institutions that comprise the World Bank Group--their organization, mission, programs, quick facts and summaries of individual country activity.
Access note: Freely available to the public.
NBER Working Papers This link opens in a new window
World economic data and publications from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Includes access to full text of NBER Bulletins and selected books from 1921 to current, and economic data.
Dates Covered: 1998-present.

The Billion Prices Project
The Billion Prices Project is an academic initiative that uses prices collected from hundreds of online retailers around the world on a daily basis to conduct research in macro and international economics.
Penn World Table
Provides purchasing power parity and national income accounts converted to international prices for 168 countries for some or all of the years 1950-2004.

globalEDGE This link opens in a new window
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Global Health Data Exchange
Welcome to the GHDx, the world’s most comprehensive catalog of surveys, censuses, vital statistics, and other health-related data. Maintained by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
Global Health Observatory (World Health Organization)
Health data for individual countries, regions and global coverage presented in a variety of downloadable formats. Resources include country profiles, a map gallery, references to other relevant publications and data sources.
Health, Nutrition and Population (World Bank)
Quick access to principal health indicators by country, topic, or indicator.
IPUMS-DHS
IPUMS-DHS facilitates analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys, administered in low- and middle-income countries for over 30 years. IPUMS-DHS contains thousands of consistently coded variables on the health and well-being of women, children, and births. Users can determine variable availability at a glance and create data files with just the variables and samples they need.
United Nations Statistics Division
This United Nations Statistics Division website provides access to vital health statistics, human functioning & disability statistics, and statistics relating to diseases, conditions, health personnel, immunization, reproductive health and more.
WHO-Europe Health Information Databases
Links to European health data curated and organized by the World Health Organization; includes core health statistics, disease surveillance, mortality trends, human/technical health resources, and inter-country comparisons.

Demographic and Health Surveys This link opens in a new window
Collects data to monitor and evaluate population, health and nutrition programs. Surveys provide information on family planning, maternal and child health, child survival, HIV/AIDS/sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and reproductive health.

Data Visualization

Gapminder
Gapminder fights devastating misconceptions about global development. Gapminder produces free teaching resources making the world understandable based on reliable statistics.

Google Public Data Visualization This link opens in a new window
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NationMaster.com
Extracts facts and figures from sources such as the CIA Factbook and allows users to generate graphs by category for easy comparison.
World DataBank
DataBank is an analysis and visualisation tool that contains collections of time series data on a variety of topics. You can create your own queries; generate tables, charts, and maps; and easily save, embed, and share them.