Research Guides: Political Science: Statistics

Websites

These websites are mainly government and NGOs which provide in-depth information about the the social and economic situations of foreign countries.

General Info:

Global Road Warrior Global Road Warrior is a collection of guides for nearly two hundred countries, each consisting of over a hundred topics for learning about culture, customs, history, and language worldwide.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) The OECD studies social, economic, and environmental challenges with the goal of finding solutions.
U.S. Department of State The State Department provides travel information, fact sheets, and current news about U.S. relations with foreign countries.
CIA World Factbook The World Factbook provides and overview of the geography, people, and economies of countries around the world.
World Bank Data Use data to tell your story - the World Bank provides a powerful tool to explore a country's information - education, healthcare, economy, etc.
Office of the Historian The Office of the Historian provides access to the official documentary history of the United states - visits to foreign heads of state, diplomatic relations, etc.

Statistics on the Web

Statistical Abstracts of the United States Provides statistics on a variety of topics including health facilities & expenditures, social insurance, and human services.
U.S. Census Data The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy.
FCSM The Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM) is an interagency committee dedicated to improving the quality of Federal statistics.
United Nations Demographic Yearbook A world summary of population, birth, death, marriage, and divorce data.
Social Indicators Country data on: population, youth and elderly populations, human settlements, water supply and sanitation, housing, health, child-bearing, education, literacy, income and economic activity, unemployment.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Collected by the U.S. Department of Labor, these statistics cover a broad range of topics rated to labor along with a variety of reports and data tools.

Historical Statistics of the United States Millenium Edition Includes over 37,000 data series on a variety of topics such as migration, health, crime, slavery, American Indians, and poverty.

Childstats.gov This website offers easy access to statistics and reports on children and families, including: family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education and health.
AidData Provides free access to the world's largest database of individual foreign aid projects. Includes software applications to analyze these data and a blog for discussion of international development. Hosted by the College of William and Mary, Brigham Young University, and Development Gateway.
Public Data Explorer - Google Labs "Play with the tool to create visualizations of public data, link to them, or embed them in their own webpages." Use data from the sources listed in data directory on the website, or upload your own. From Google Labs.
Data.gov The home of the U.S. Government’s open data, including data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention OJJDP sponsors research, program, and training initiatives; develops priorities and goals and sets policies to guide federal juvenile justice issues; disseminates information about juvenile justice issues; and awards funds to states to support local programming.
Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics The FBI has gathered crime offense statistics from law enforcement agencies across the Nation through its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program since 1930." Statistics collected for: "violent crime (murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) and property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft). Use the table-building tool to specify offenses, locality (city, state), and year(s).
Statistical and Social Science Data Created and compiled by the Geostat Center at UVA. Search for data collections by subject or by region. Some data collections are only available to U

Cultural Information

PEW Research Center In addition to providing reports on global developments, PEW polls populations on their opinions of various aspects of the world.
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) UNESCO works to provide all access to education, protect culture and heritage, and promote peaceful exchanges of information.

Business/Economy

Country Commercial Guides Guides that provide information that a person needs to know in order to do business in a foreign country
World Bank - Doing Business Doing Business provides objective measures of business regulations for local firms in 190 economies.
GlobalEdge View indicators and indices relating to the health of a country's economy, as well as basic information about their political systems.

Healthcare and Education

Data Bank - Health and Nutrition Create reports on various aspects of the health indicators of a country's population, such as access to healthcare, life expectancy, average calorie intake, etc.
World Health Organization View factsheets on various measures of health - obesity rates, exercise levels, alcohol intake, and other potential health risks
Data Bank - Education Create reports on various aspects of a country's education levels - average standardized test scores, literacy rates, gender differences in education, etc.
World Inequality Database on Education The World Inequality Database on Education (WIDE) highlights the powerful influence of circumstances, such as wealth, gender, ethnicity and location, over which people have little control but which play an important role in shaping their opportunities for education and life. It draws attention to unacceptable levels of education inequality across countries and between groups within countries, with the aim of helping to inform policy design and public debate.