The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources

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General Resources for all Countries

Search Engines for Country, Language, or Region-Specific Searches

Search Engine Colossus and Search Engine Guide are comprehensive global master directories of local search engines for regional, country, or language-specific searches. Yahoo! provides country-specific, regional, and official government site search options. Google offers a comprehensive Language Tools Page to search in specific languages or countries, translate text, change language interfaces, or link to country-specific Google sites. Google Translate is another site option. The 2lingual site allows you to search with Google simultaneously in two languages. Glearch allows you to search for language and country-specific content in "top results from Google, Yahoo and Bing as well as the most popular search engines for the selected country."

Major Data and Statistics Sources

Economic and Social Data Service-- UK academic "data service providing [free] access and support for an extensive range of key economic and social data, both quantitative and qualitative, spanning many disciplines and themes." Note especially ESDS International, with "multi-nation aggregate databanks, such as World Bank, and survey data including Eurobarometers."

International Statistics-- From the Library of Statistics Finland, "Key international statistics and data sources have been gathered into this portal. The selection includes free data sources of the most important and reliable international organisations and communities."

Internet Crossroads in Social Science Data-- From the Data and Program Library Service, University of Wisconsin-Madison, searchable site that "contains over 825 annotated links to data-related resources on the Internet."

OFFSTATS: Official Statistics on the Web-- Annotated links to sites offering "free and easily accessible social, economic and general data from official sources,"current data and time series, by country, IGO, topic, or subject.

Statistical Agencies in the UN/ECE Region-- Links to national and international statistics agencies relevant to the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe's 55 member countries in Europe and North America.

Statistical Resources on the Web-- From the University of Michigan Library Documents Center, annotated links to authoritative U.S. and international online sources of statistics on many topics.

Statistical Sites on the World Wide Web-- From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, listing U.S. and international online sources of all kinds of reliable statistics.

Statistics-- From RBA Information Services, in the UK, a very extensive compilation of links to statistics sources worldwide, for many countries and topical areas.

United Nations Statistical Divison-- Directory site from the United Nations, allowing access to national and international statistics from the U.N., other IGOs, and official agencies of member states.

Other Sites for General Country Information

NOTE: Also check the U.S. Government Information Sources, International Business and Economics: U.S. Government Sources, and the various regional sections of this Virtual Library Web site for country, regional, or world statistics and reports.

• Amnesty International-- Country studies are available from this well-known organization promoting human rights worldwide.

• aneki.com-- Provides statistical facts plus continental and world rankings for countries, in various categories and from standard sources.

• Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade offers Country, Economy, and Regional Information and Country and Economy Fact Sheets, the latter in PDF format.

• Background Notes-- From the U.S. Department of State, basic information on countries and international organizations. Also see the Countries section for facts about most countries.

• Braintrack-- Index of links to the higher education institutions of the world, by continent and country, plus hundreds of useful articles on higher education and careers by the BrainTrack staff.

• Cato Institute-- This libertarian U.S. think-tank publishes an annual Economic Freedom of the World report, free online, that ranks countries on dozens of measures of economic freedom.

• Central Intelligence Agency of the United States publishes a searchable World Factbook reference annual, with data, flags, and maps-- one of the most widely respected online sources of country and world information, with a country comparison and ranking feature.

• Consular Affairs Bureau-- A site for travelers, from the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Office of the Canadian government, with abundant and current reports on country characteristics, maps, situations, issues, and risks worldwide, by country.

• Country Data-- Very useful and well-organized selection over a wide range of variables, from the Everything International academic site for international business, by Professor Lloyd Russow.

• Country Profiles-- The BBC News World Edition has country profiles that "provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries. They also include audio and video clips from the BBC archives."

• Country and Region Profiles-- From the world-class Electronic Development and Environment Information System (Eldis), a wide variety of detailed country-specific information and analysis.

• Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-- Texts of yearly reports by the U.S. Department of State, and related documents. Reports from 1993 to 1999 are available on an archive site.

• Country Statistics-- From UNICEF, country data on measures of well-being, particularly for children.

• Development Gateway-- A major portal on development issues, with information and analysis available by country, development activity area, and other categories.

• Electoral Geography-- Posts maps and analysis about spatial regularities and patterns of election results around the world, or "mapped politics... a socio-political analysis of voting trends in the world’s 192 countries."

• Embassy World-- Directory of the world's embassies and consulates in a searchable database.

• Flags of the World-- The Internet's largest and most complete website devoted to the study of flags: "Here you can read more than 48,000 pages about flags and view more than 88,000 images of flags of countries, organizations, states, territories, districts and cities, both past and present."

• Foreign Information by Country-- From the University of Colorado Libraries, a very handy page that provides linkage to many types of credible sources of information about countries.

• Freedom House-- Many online studies ranking countries on measures of freedom, informative backgrounders, and other publications are offered by this nonprofit, nonpartisan U.S. organization dedicated to promoting democracy around the world. Note especially their extensive yearly online report Freedom in the World.

• Genderstats-- From the World Bank, an electronic database of gender statistics and indicators, by country and category.

• GeoHive-- "Site with geopolitical data, statistics on the human population, Earth and more. The main kind of data you can find here is population statistics of regions, countries, provinces and cities. Next to that there are some statistics on economic factors like wealth, infrastructure; statistics on natural phenomena...".

• Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Programme-- The annual Human Development Report is an excellent comprehensive guide to global human development, with analyses of major issues, updated Human Development Indicators that compare the relative levels of human development of over 175 countries, and an agenda to help transform development priorities. Much of the report is available online, and links to regional and national HDI reports.

• Human Rights Watch-- Dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world, by investigating and exposing human rights violations and holding abusers accountable. Many reports online, including their yearly World Report.

• Index of Economic Freedom-- From the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, "a [searchable] practical reference guide to the world's economies. It includes country-by-country analyses and the most up-to-date data available on foreign investment codes, taxes, tariffs, banking regulations, monetary policy, black markets, and more."

• Infoplease (World section)-- An almanac approach to world and country facts, statistics, and events.

• International Foundation for Election Systems-- Private, nonprofit U.S. organization supporting electoral and other democratic institutions in emerging, evolving, and experienced democracies--"one of the world's premier democracy and governance assistance organizations." Insightful electoral information and analysis. See the Election Guide for election news and analysis worldwide.

• International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance-- Aims to promote and advance sustainable democracy, improve and consolidate electoral processes world-wide, and provide a forum for discussions and action among individuals and organizations involved in democracy promotion. This site from Sweden offers news, analyses, and databases. Note especially Democracy and Gender and Voter Turnout. Also check out the several partner projects, such as the Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) Project.

• International Monetary Fund-- The IMF oversees a wide range of international economic and financial issues. Numerous publications on economic and financial issues, including country information and World Economic Outlook, are available and searchable online. Note the quarterly journal Finance and Development. The Financial Soundness Indicators database is "aimed at supporting macroprudential analysis—the surveillance and assessment of the strengths and vulnerabilities of financial systems."

• Inter-Parliamentary Union-- Information on the IPU (the world organization of parliaments of sovereign states), the functioning of parliamentary democracy around the world, women in parliaments, and links to parliamentary web sites. The PARLINE database gives information about all the functioning national legislative bodies in the world.

• Library of Congress Country Studies Series-- This excellent keyword-searchable site contains book-length "description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world." Look through the Country Profiles series for "brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security."

• Live Currency Converter-- "Converts any amount from one currency to another with more than 150 foreign currenies available. Exchange rates are updated every hour."

• Luxembourg Income and Employment Studies -- Standardized collections of household surveys with demographic, income, and expenditure data for about 30 countries and labor force surveys for these countries. Free for use, but requires registration.

• Munisource-- "Largest collection of links to municipal government-related information on the Web," very comprehensive and global in coverage.

• NationMaster-- Great site for comparative statistics. "A massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD. Using the form above, you can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease."

• One World--Nations Online-- By Netscout, a list of selected official and unofficial virtual gateways to the countries of the world, most of them in the respective country. Loads of useful information on and via this site.

• Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation-- The international organization of the industrialized, market-economy countries, to exchange information and harmonize policy to maximize economic growth within member countries and assist non-member countries to develop more rapidly. OECD statistics and many data sets are posted online. The searchable Publications and Documents section is a good place to start. OECD resources focusing on a particular country (OECD member or not) can be found at the Country Portal. Note especially the very useful annual OECD Factbook for economic, environmental, and social statistics. An interactive eXplorer feature allows Factbook time-series data manipulation on a world map and a scatter plot screen.

• Pew Global Attitudes Project-- From the Pew Research Center, a "series of worldwide public opinion surveys that encompasses a broad array of subjects ranging from people's assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day." Note the Key Indicators Database, which "allows users to explore public opinion trends in 55 countries on topics ranging from attitudes toward the U.S. to people's assessments of their own lives to views about globalization, democratization, extremism and other important issues."

• Population Reference Bureau-- Fine source for authoritative data and analysis on world, regional, and national population and demographics trends. Features a large downloadable graphics bank of PowerPoint presentation graphics. Note their Annual Report and their annual World Population Data Sheet for "up-to-date demographic, health, and environment data for all the countries and major regions of the world." Search for data and analysis by topic, region, or country. The handy DataFinder has data on "133 population, health, and environment variables for more than 220 countries, 28 world regions and sub-regions, and the world as a whole." The quarterly Population Bulletins on selected topics are very useful.

• Superpages-- Performs searches of "yellow and white pages [telephone] directories from around the world."

• Timeanddate.com-- Know the current time and date at locations around the world. The World Clock Customizer allows you to keep track of time in locations of your own interest.

• TimeTicker-- Shows time zones around the world, and current time and date by country.

• Time Zone Converter-- Find the time anywhere in the world, updated for the start or ending of Daylight Saving Time in each locality. Printable Time Zone Reference Card option.

• Transparency International-- "The global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption...[with a mission] to create change towards a world free of corruption... by building momentum for the anti-corruption movement, raising awareness and diminishing apathy and tolerance of corruption, as well as devising and implementing practical actions to address it." TI's many online corruption surveys, indices, working papers, and reports analyze and rank countries "in terms of the degree to which they are perceived to be the homes of... public officials who abuse their office for personal gain."

• Travelers' Health-- From the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including information on countries and regions.

• United Nations Population Fund-- "World's largest international source of funding for population and reproductive health programmes." This U.N. site provides much information, news, and analysis on world population issues, including the annual State of World Population report, free online.

• United Nations Population Information Network (POPIN)-- Statistics on global and national populations, electronic library, reports, conference proceedings, organization directories, regional links, and much more.

• United Nations Statistics Division-- From the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, a vast array of world, regional, and national statistics from many national and international sources.

• United States Census Bureau's International Data Base-- A rich computerized data bank containing statistical tables of past, present, and projected demographic and socio-economic data for most countries and all areas of the world. Check the International Programs section. Note the World POPClock Projection. The Census Bureau posts online the Statistical Abstract of the United States.

• Universal Currency Converter-- This full version of the Universal Currency Converter figures rates among over 180 currencies. A standard version is also available for most uses.

• Universities Worldwide-- Searchable database of links to thousands of universities in over 200 countries.

• Voter Turnout from 1945 to Date-- From the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, a database and analysis of voting participation in scores of countries for the period, for parliamentary and presidential elections. Results given by country, region, regime, electoral system, social variables, or global trends.

• Weather Forecasts and Climates-- Current weather and forecasts are found at AccuWeather, CNN, Intellicast World Weather, Qwikcast, weather.com, WeatherBug, and Wunderground. Weatherbase gives climatological descriptions, historical weather patterns, records, and averages around the world. World Climate shows average climate, year-round, for thousands of locales around the world.

• World Bank Data-- The World Bank Group's extensive data resources are organized and available through this site. The Country and Economies page presents time-series tables of key indicators by country. Also see the data and analysis available at the Countries and Regions page.

• World Database of Happiness-- "An ongoing register of scientific research on subjective appreciation of life. It brings together findings that are scattered throughout many studies and provides a basis for synthetic studies." Includes data by country. From Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

• World Flag Database-- Flags of countries and international organizations, with basic country information.

• World InfoZone-- Individually linked news and country profiles for all countries, with special educational features on many countries, plus dozens of subject areas with selected links and subject and country quizzes.

• WORLDTIME-- Features an interactive world atlas, information on local time, sunrise and sunset times in several hundred cities, and a database of public holidays worldwide.

• World Time Server-- Gives current local times in cities and countries, including real time adjustments for daylight savings time, and compares time differences among places for a given future date. Includes maps.

• World Values Survey-- Insightful results and analysis of a major international academic team's investigation of sociocultural and political attitudes and their changes, through representative surveys of the basic values and beliefs of publics in scores of societies, covering a high percentage of the world's population. Principal findings, charts, methodology, bibliography, some articles online.

• Yahoo! Directory: Countries-- Provides key links to many informational topics for most countries of the world.