|
Developed & Maintained by Lloyd C.
Russow
Philadelphia University
ALL COUNTRIES (comparative
country data by topic, arranged alphabetically
(general statistics first, followed by
agricultural data... women, which is gender-specific data). Most sources include
data on 200 countries and territories. Those that don't are indicated as
'limited coverage'.
Please note that terminology, such as GNI
(Gross National Income), rather than GNP (Gross National Product) is used by some resources. Please
also see the updated version of "Village of
1,000 - in the Year 2005."
 | General
macroeconomic and social statistics: (see also "Women of the World"
and "Market Research Reports" below)
 | International Bank for Reconstruction &
Development (IBRD) --
World Bank {national statistics by country
or, by topic,
(including
agricultural output, aid, air pollution, commodity prices, debt, education, energy,
health, income distribution, poverty, purchasing power parity, traffic, and
urbanization).
World Development Indicators
(selected tables - from
right frame, select from the following: macroeconomic, and external economic
indicators, population and labor force, distribution of income or consumption, health,
education, commercial energy use, land use and urbanization, forests and water resources,
growth of the economy, structure of the economy: production and demand, central government
budget, trade, balance of payments, external debt, and basic indicators for other
economies}. World
Development Reports focus on a variety of issues that change from
year-to-year:
Development and the Next Generation (2007);
Equity and Development (2006);
A Better
Investment Climate (2005);
Making
Services Work For Poor People (2004);
Sustainable Development (2003);
Building
Institutions for Markets (2002);
Attacking Poverty 2000-2001.
For earlier years
of World Development Reports, <click
here>. The World Bank
classifies countries by level of development, indebtedness,
and geographic region (for a list of countries in each category, click <here>).
Searchable
data base of documents and reports (browse by
country or
topic;.
See also, Data
Query
(includes 54
time series indicators for 207 countries and 18 groups, spanning 5 years) World Bank (IBRD)}.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) produces something similar --
World Economic Outlook Data Base.
|
|
International Monetary Fund
{Staff Country Reports -- Very detailed reports, for
approximately 150 nations. Includes recent economic developments (social expenditures, foreign direct investment, national accounts, production statistics, exchange rates, balance of payments, trade, etc.) statistics, and special reports. They are not listed alphabetically in the traditional sense. Many treat "republic" as if it were "the" in a title of a book, The IMF does not, so if you're looking for Belarus, Croatia, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia, and many others, they are listed under "R" for Republic of
<country name>. You may wish to perform a page search -- Ctrl+F in Internet Explorer or Netscape -- to locate the country.
Once you have selected a country, you can either order the publication for a
fee, or download a *.pdf file; International Monetary Fund (IMF)}. |
| International
Monetary Fund, Part II
{World
Economic Outlook. Select either by country or "aggregate"
(economic grouping, like 'developing nations' or geographic region, such
as Sub-Saharan Africa) then select topics and years of interest. You can
download the data as CVS files which are recognized by most spreadsheet
software programs including MS Excel, Lotus, etc.; IMF}.
See also
the
World Bank counterpart, Data
Query. |
| Library of Congress
Country Studies {formerly, US Army Handbooks;
US Library of Congress}. |
| NationMaster {Compare
one nation to another -- Fun too!; Your Nation}. |
|
Strategis {country-specific
reports (many from
STAT-USA - but free access), including Country Analysis Briefs, Country
Background Notes, Country Commercial Guide, Foreign Labor Trends, Industry
Sector Analysis, International Market Insight, and CIA World Fact Book. See
also
country and region reports -- biased towards Canadian business, but
broader applications as well);
Strategis--Industry Canada Online}. |
| TradePort {VERY
general information -- includes demographics, background notes, political
environment, trade relations and trade barriers, investment climate and
market research reports for selected products and industries;
TradePort}. |
| United
Nations {economy, geography, population, and
social indicators; United Nations (UN) InfoNation. See also "Social Indicators" below}.
|
|
US
Central Intelligence Agency
{World Factbook. Communication,
defense, economy, geography, government aid, infrastructure, people, political parties,
maps, measurement conversion tables, trade, and transportation; See also
reference
maps, or
download
the current or past Factbook or components and
Factbook Appendices (which contain abbreviations, lsits of
international organizations and selected environmental agreements); US Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA)}.
 | See also Nation Master
(tables, charts, and graphs; primarily CIA Factbook data, but other
sources as well. Data may be a from previous year, rather than most
currently available). {comparative
statistics on a multitude of criteria from a variety of reputable
national and international sources -- well cited at the bottom of tables
you request. Excellent format; Nation Master.com}. |
| An enterprising gentleman, Mr.
Photius Coutsoukis has captured
early editions of the World Factbook, and even entered the
most current data into
spreadsheets
to allow for some data manipulation, charting etc. I have personally
checked some data from early print editions I have in my collection and
all seems as it should be, but some care should be used when referring to
this data. |
|
|
US Department of Commerce, International Trade
Administration
{Market
Research Reports -- 100,000 industry and country-specific market reports
(Country Commercial Guides (CCGs), Industry Sector Analyses (ISAs),
International Market Insight (IMIs), and Multilateral Development Bank
Reports), web sites, events, and trade directory listings;
US BuyUSA Program;
U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S.
Commercial Service, International Trade
Administration (ITA).
See
also Background Notes (US Department of State).
The Economic Policy
and Trade Practices Reports are no longer produced -- the program was ended in 2002,
but there are some useful insights (older Country
Commercial Guides:
1996-2001).
Source agencies: US Department of Commerce (USDOC),
International Trade
Administration (ITA), Foreign Commercial Service (FCS),
and US Department of State}. |
|
World Bank {Prospects for the Global Economy
- outlook summary, financial markets, world trade, growth, major trends,
etc.; World Bank - a.k.a.
International Bank for Reconstruction & Development (IBRD)} |
| World
Resources Institute
{agriculture
and food; atmosphere and climate; basic economic indicators; biodiversity
and protected areas; coastal, marine, and inland waters; energy and
resource use; forests and grasslands; freshwater; population, health, and
human development; and urban data. See
also "Environment" below. World Resources Institute (WRI)}. |
|
|
Agriculture and food
{over
1 million time-series records covering international statistics in agricultural, fishery, forest
and related products, production, and
trade data. See
also the Statistics Division,
and the Statistical Links
pages;
FAOSTAT; Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations}.
See also the Earth Trends
tables on
agriculture and food, etc. {scroll down the page for these
tables; World Resources Institute; WRI}.
|
| Central Banks {general
information and statistics; Bank for International Settlements (BIS)}. |
| Chambers
of Commerce
{select
"Global
CCI Chamber
Search" under "General search", then enter a country or region to get contact information on
local chambers of commerce; World Chambers Network}.
|
| US
Department of State {select "Country Desk Contacts" or
"U.S. Embassies and other Posts" (link to latest declassified list of
personnel and other
key posts (in host country -- look for "POL"
-- political
officers (abbreviations used by the State Department) who offer advice on the political environment;
US Department of State}. |
| Country Desk Officers {If
in Washington, dial area city code - 202, then number. Select "Country Desk
Contacts" or "U.S. Embassies and other Posts" (link to latest declassified
list of personnel and other
key posts (in host country -- look for
"COM"
(Commercial),
"ECON" (Economic) and "POL" (Political) officers (see
abbreviations
(PDF format file) used by the State
Department on the lists of country experts) who offer advice on trade and tariff laws,
business practices, etc.; US Department of State}.
|
| Global Competitiveness Reports {select "Global
Competitiveness Report". Although there is a charge for a hard copy, it is
possible to download statistics and most, if not all of these reports. See
also the
Global Map of Growth Competitiveness; World
Economic Forum; World Bank Group (IBRD)}.
|
| Corruption: (see bribery and
intellectual property in the "law"
section below). |
| Crime
{INTERPOL no
longer allows free access to international crime statistics).
|
|
Culture:
(Culture is a difficult concept to quantify and measure and there are
generally few reliable and current statistics available; even fewer that are
free.
CultureGrams, first produced by Brigham
Young University, are now made available in a variety of formats (online,
print, etc., for the World, or
individual nations) through Axiom Press.
Other products are also available
Also available is an
online data
base. Relatively inexpensive reports ($4.00 or less per country) that
contains some data, but primarily descriptions of national norms and generally
accepted behavior patterns. See also, the
Human Relations Area Files "eHRAF
Collection of Ethnography" (Yale University). Subscriptions are not inexpensive, but are
perhaps the most complete and reliable.)
| Calendars
{holidays, special occasions, and important dates
by culture; Calendar Zone}. |
|
Definitions
of culture
{Washington State
University}.
|
| Language: (see also
UNESCO web site regarding endangered
languages, as well as the
EU Translation Center
and the
Inter-Active
Terminology for Europe (IATE) -- (EU member
languages only) multilingual online dictionary of the Translation Services
of the EU is the EU inter-institutional terminology database. Can be
used for technical specifications, terminology, etc.; Europa).
| iLove Languages
{language
resources including dictionaries, thesauri, and schools, as well as
newspapers, spell checkers, and translation. Try "By Language" to
identify resources associated with particular languages;
iLoveLanguages/Human Language
Page}. |
| SDL Translation
{insert text, or hyperlink to translate a web
page; SDL International}. |
| Your
Dictionary
{dictionary
and translations}. |
|
|
Ministries of Foreign Affairs
{Select country -- have to search for Ministers of Culture
within each site - unfortunately, not consistent from nation-to-nation. European only; EU Council}. |
| Religion
{religious
statistics and recommended readings; Adherents.com}.
|
| Religious Freedom {Religious
Freedom Reports;
US Department of State}. |
| Values
{Selected data
on the values of people around the world. See also the
research and
articles that were based on this data and the online data extraction and
analysis site;
World Values Survey. You
might also want to review the research performed by the
University of Michigan,
Institute for Social Research (ISR),
Center for Political
Studies and review the
description of
the first three waves of research (PDF file)}.
|
|
| Currency/Exchange Rates:
|
| Doing Business in.... {select country, topics (hiring and
firing, for example), and related economic data on most of the world's
economies. Be sure to see the interactive
Doing Business in MAP; World Bank Group (IBRD)}. |
| Economy:
| Economic
and Financial Information {World Economic Outlook.
Scroll down the page to access and download data in charts, boxes and figures in
either PDF format or CVS format (compatible with most spread sheet
software) [requires Adobe Acrobat Reader* -- Get reader]. Earlier versions include the 2006
World Economic Outlook;
2005
World Economic Outlook (Tables
in PDF format);
2004
World Economic Outlook (Tables in PDF format);
2003
World Economic Outlook (Tables in PDF format);
2002
World Economic Outlook (tables
in PDF or in CVS format -- You may also
download the files in CVS format and therefore may be imported/read
by most spreadsheet software);
2001
World Economic Outlook (tables
in PDF or in
CSV format); 2000
World Economic Outlook (tables
in PDF or
in CSV format), the 1999
World Economic Outlook (tables
in PDF), the 1998
World Economic Outlook (tables
in PDF), and the 1997
World Economic Outlook (tables
in PDF). Statistics are available for each in the
Annex sections of the reports at the bottom of the web page;
IMF}. See also the
WEO databases. |
| Economic Freedom: {see
Index of Economic Freedom below}. |
|
Economic Prospects/Predictions: {See in particular the
Appendixes. Tables are in PDF format. See
also the
Prospects for a Global Economy, as well as the earlier
Economic Prospect Reports:
2007;
2006;
2005,
2004, and
2003 for comparison; World Bank
(IBRD)}.
|
|
Globalization Index {measures of interdependence,
development and stability - trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), gross
domestic product (GDP), as well as telecommunications (Internet and
telephone data);
A.T. Kearney }. |
| Price
elasticity for food and other broad categories of products {download
data for over 100 nations in broad food categories,
US Department of Agriculture,
Economic Research Service}. |
|
| Education:
| United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); See especially,
Quick
Facts,
the database,
statistics, and
country
and regional profiles; See specific statistics related to
education,
literacy,
science and technology, and
culture and communication. {Older, time series data is also available
from the Institute
for Statistics -- includes
educational attainment, enrollment, illiteracy, public expenditure, and
teaching staff, 1970-1997 by region, country, topic, and year. See also
UNESCO
World Education Indicators
for other education indicators. See also the
Education for All
{Education for All (EFA) forum; United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)}.
|
| U.S. National Center for
Education Statistics {select
international and year(s); statistics on selected topics for selected
countries, including scores on international achievement tests in math and
science; see especially COOL
(College Opportunities Online Locator) and other statistical
tools and
international education data resources; National Center for Education
Statistics; U.S. Department of
Education}. |
|
| Environment:
| World Resources Institute
(WRI) {EarthTrends provides tables,
searchable data bases, country profiles and maps. Using the
sitemap
makes selection quicker and easier. Select desired information from the Some data is a little old,
but collected from reliable sources. Access to some data
requires
registration, but no fee}.
Searchable dataset (look across top frame to select general category -
"Coastal & Marine Ecosystems", "Water Resources and Freshwater
Ecosystems",.. ) - searchable database, maps, country profiles, and data
tables; very interactive. Also,
download podcasts on special topics. Atmosphere and climate, biodiversity, energy and materials, food and
agriculture, forests and land cover. Also see
earlier reports:
WRI,
2005,
WRI, 2002-2004;
WRI, 2000-2001;
WRI 1998-99;
WRI 1996-97;
WRI 1994-1995;
WRI 1992-1993;
and;
WRI 1988-1989 (no registration required. Includes data on urbanization,
dependency ratio (people <15 and >65 as a percentage of total population),
poverty levels, access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Download or
purchase hard copies reports. World Resources International (WRI)}. See
also, texts of environmental treaties
{organized alphabetically, chronologically, and by subject.
Treaties are also arranged by area or nation in the "Country
Explorer" site; Environmental Treaties and Resource Indicators (ENTRI, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN),
Socioeconomic Data and
Applications Center (SEDAC), Columbia
University}. |
|
| Flags
{Information Technology Associates, Inc.}. |
|
Heads/Chiefs-of-State/World Leaders, Cabinet members, and other officials
{USCIA}. |
| Health
Statistics {"Basic Health Indicators" --
diseases, environmental health, mortality rates, which you can view, or
download in MS Excel and plain text files; WHO Statistical Statistics
Information System;
World
Health Report. See also
World
Health Reports, 1995-2005, for a historical perspective}.
See also,
the Global Health
Atlas Data Query (communicable diseases, doctors, nurses...), and links to
country-specific health
data as well
as the WHOLIS
library and inforamtion networks for database and health-related articles; {World Health Organization (WHO)}.
For HIV data, see also,
UNICEF statistics {UN}. |
| Human Rights: |
| Internet Statistics and Reports:
(most provide general data for free; charge for details -
typically expensive).
|
| Labor
Statistics {Select a region or country,
then on country site select "statistics." Includes manufacturing value added (MVA), compared internationally and by
industry (referred to as "manufacturing branch"); value added by employee and
wage rates by industry. Select region or country, then on country site select
"statistics." Some data is a few years old; UN Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO)}.
See also Labor under Laws heading.
|
| Law: (for political risk and
political risk insurance see, "intellectual
property" and "political-environment"
below; as well as "INSURANCE (commercial
and political risks)" listings on the Ev-In Market Entry Assistance page.
| General International Law Resources:
| American Society of
International Law {general information, see
also resources, and
publications}. |
| Cornell Law Library
{Cornell
University Law Library}. |
| Doing Business in.... {select
"country" - most of the world's
economies; World Bank Group (IBRD)}. |
| FindLaw {search by country,
region, type (constitutions, trade, treaties, and conventions);
Find Law}. |
| Library of
Congress
{Guide to Law Online; US Law Library of
Congress.} |
| Washburn
University
{includes constitutions,
environmental laws, human rights, intellectual property, international treaties.
Search by topic or area (region and country); Washburn University,
School of Law}. |
|
| Arbitration:
| International Chamber of Commerce
{an
organization
recognized by the U.N. and in most nations as an authoritative
dispute resolution resource. This site provides organization information,
dispute resolution
services, documentation, & information; standard arbitration clause
- download full text in Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek,
Hungarian, Italian,
Japanese, Spanish ... Vietnamese; (ICC)}.
|
| International
Centre for Dispute Resolution
{arbitration
and mediation rules, guides, and
forms, demand for
arbitration, etc.; American Arbitration
Association}. |
|
| Bribery and corruption:
| Governance
Indicators {or
country data reports, or
download data
reports. See also the
publication and research site for articles, case studies and course
materials, as well as the
Corporate Social
Responsibility site; IBRD}.
|
| Business
Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) {a
continuation of the IBRD material; the Business Environment
and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) of 4000 firms in 22
transition countries; and World Bank (IBRD)and
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)}.
World Business Environment Survey (WBES) {a continuation of the IBRD material;
the interactive World Business Environment Survey (WBES) is a
survey of over 10,000 firms covers enterprise responses to multiple
questions on the investment climate and business environment. Download
reports or data as MS Excel file, or generate question-specific charts;
IBRD}. |
|
Global Map of Corruption and Transparency {Interactive
map; World Economic Forum (WEF)}. |
| International Compliance
Association (ICA). {International
Compliance Association - association dedicated to prevention of money
laundering. See especially their
links to
global agencies with similar goals}. |
|
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD).
{Anti-Corruption Unit; see especially the
OECD Convention on Combating
Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business
Transactions which went into effect on February 15, 1999}. |
| Transparency International. {Corruption
Perceptions Index. See also TI
Bribe Payer Index; and
the Internet Center for Corruption Research (partner
with TI to develop CPI. Information on the CPI, including
when and
how it was developed) and the
Global Corruptions Report, and the Transparency International (TI) publications,
conventions, resolutions and legislation page; Transparency
International and Göttingen
University}. |
| United States'
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). {See also the
US Department of
Commerce site 0n the FCPA, as well as the US DOC
Office of the Chief
Counsel for International Commerce and the
Trade Compliance Center); {USDOC/ITA}. |
|
| Copyright (see Intellectual Property
Protection section below) |
| Corporate Governance; Codes of Conduct (codes are non-binding)
|
| Customs/Tariffs/Taxes: (agreements, conventions, and laws
regarding establishing tariffs)
|
| Human Rights:
|
| Intellectual
Property: (see also
ICC
Commercial Crime Services {ICC}; and individual country listings, under
"other intellectual property offices"
{USPTO}, as well as the International
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
and the Committee on
Copyright and Other Legal Matters (CLM). [Back]
| European
Patent Office (EPO) {European patents; Convention on the Grant of European Patents
(EPC). See also the
Office for Harmonization in the Internal
Market (OHIM) for trademark registration within the EU}. |
| IP Law and Business {recent
news about copyrights, patents, or trademarks, as well as other IP-related
stories, and events from around the world; other resources as well. Some
free access, some access requires registration or subscription}. |
| International
Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) {includes
estimates of piracy losses worldwide and by (60+) country. See also
the
country reports
for US 301 information}. |
| Japanese Patent Office
(JPO) {while focus is on Japan, of course, see
also, links to 50+
other
national and international patent offices}. |
|
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) {Universal
Copyright Convention of 1971 - for full text, see:
Statutory Text. See also
UNESCO's page on copyright --
publications and
National
Copyright Legislation}.
|
| United States Customs Service, Department of Treasury
{Protecting
intellectual property -- see
enforcement page. Also recommended is the US Bureau Bureau of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement;
National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center; US
Customs Service, Department of Treasury}.
|
| United States, International Trade
Administration (Stop Fakes) {What is
intellectual property and how to protect it;
USDOC/ITA}.
|
| United States Patent
and Trademark Office (UPSTO) {See especially the
trademarks "How to..."
site and downloadable versions of all Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
forms needed for filing and prosecuting international applications in the
United States Patent and Trademark Office. See also the
searchable database
of pending
and registered US trademarks {Select/press "SEARCH" in right frame. Trademark
Electronic Search System (TESS)}; the
Super/Special 301
Reports and related activities; US Trade Representative (USTR)}.
See also the United States
Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. For U.S. patents,
also refer to Delphion/Thomson
Publishing Company
{Requires
registration; searchable
U.S. -- members can also search the European, Japanese, and WIPO
patents) and application data, including pictures. Also see their
gallery of obscure patents
and historic patents}. |
| World Intellectual
Property Protection Organization
(WIPO)
{See especially the text
of the "Paris
Union Convention" and
article 6ter
of the convention on emblem and mark protection for states -- Paris
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property}. |
| World
Trademark laws {laws, databases and treaties; Gregory H. Guillot, Chartered
}. |
|
| Labor:
|
| Multinational
treaties and conventions {diplomatic relations, environment, human rights, law of the sea,
rules of warfare, as well as convention information for EU, NAFTA, and WTO;
Global Legal
Information Network (GLIN), US
Law
Library of Congress}. |
| Legal news
{FindLaw}.
|
| Regional and national law:
| European Union (EU)
EurLex {full text of the
founding treaties, binding and non-binding legislation, opinions, and resolutions issued
by the EU. Note CELEX has
been discontinued}. See
also the list of
European
standards organizations (CENELEC, CEN, EOTC, etc.). See
also, the European Patent
Office {European patents; Convention on the Grant of European Patents
(EPC) and the
Office for Harmonization in the Internal
Market (OHIM) for trademark registration within the EU}. |
| Mercado del Sur (MERCOSUR), also known as The Treaty of
Asunción {information on rules of origin and dispute settlement;
Organization of American States (OAS)}. |
| NAFTA
Secretariat {see "Legal Texts"
and
"Dispute Settlement" in left frame}. |
| Organization
of American States
(OAS) {dispute
settlement, intellectual property
rights, investment treaties, and
trade agreements}. |
| United States (U.S.) see
crime
statistics and the list of
standards
organization (ANSI, NIST, NCSCI, etc.) as well as United States economic and
trade sanctions {restricted goods and trading
partners. See especially
Designation
Lists And Financial Advisories; U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control. See also the
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the
2007 National
Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. Selected earlier
reports:
2006,
2005,
2004,
2003,
2002,
2001,
1998,
1997,
1996;
and trade issues
by
geographic area and
by industry
or sector as
well as
trade
issues pertaining to the environment;
US Department of the Treasury and
US Trade Representative (USTR)}.
| | | |
