Internet Data Sources for Social Scientists
Data Distributors and Producers: International
Conflict Vulnerability Analysis: Tools and Resources
| Contains links to major data sites on international conflict and events. Includes selected economic tables (in Excel) on Africa derived from the World Bank. Hosted by the Payson Center for International Development, Tulane University. |
EUROSTAT
| Economic, social, and demographic statistics from the Statistical Office of the European Communities. |
Food and Agriculture Organization
homepage for Food and Agriculture Organization FAOSTAT| International data on agriculture production and fisheries, food supply and nutrition, land use and environmental topics, by country. Create online tables or download series as comma-delimited files. |
Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS)| Monitors and distributes information on factors that influence food production, availability, and prices in developing countries. An excellent source on food security topics. Its most recent data tool is National Basic Food Prices, which tracks domestic prices of foods staples in over 50 countries. It can output information in local or US currencies using standardized measures: http://www.fao.org/giews/pricetool/ |
Inter-American Development Bank
| Datasets on economic performance and institutions in Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond. Specific studies cover public debt, trade integration, and labor markets. |
International Labour Organization (ILO)
| The ILO Bureau of Statistics compiles and distributes statistics on employment and working conditions, income and economic stability, trade unions, and related macroeconomic indicators. Its focal database is LABORSTA http://laborsta.ilo.org which covers about 200 counties, with some series beginning in 1970. Additional data products are available on request from ILO. |
International Monetary Fund
homepage for International Monetary Fund | Free macroecnomic data are generally distributed in the form of published reports. Some series such as World Economic Outllook and exchange rates can be selected, displayed, or downloaded. The good stuff, such as International Financial Statistics, Direction of Trade, and Government Finance Statistics must be purchased. |
International Financial Statistics 
| Create custom tables and extracts from monthly, quarterly, or annual macroeconomic indicators. Some coverage back to 1948. This link requries authentication as a Cornell user. The University of Minnesota maintains a helpful IFS user guide: http://courses.lib.umn.edu/page.phtml?page_id=1778 |
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)
Statistics Portal| Statistical reports and spreadsheets for OECD countries. |
SourceOECD | Many OECD statistical series covering agriculture, economics and trade, communications, and social indicators. Download tables as Excel or csv files. Point-and-click with a clunky interface.This link will require Cornell authentication. |
Statistics Canada
homepage for Statistics Canada E-STAT | Create tables and extracts derived from demographic, social, economic, and enviornment indicators. Many series have considerable historical coverage. Coverage largely limited to the national and provincial levels. See usage agreement for information on restrictions and acknowledgement requirements: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Estat/estat-html.htm |
UN/ECE Statistical Division
Undata
| A portal to United Nations data and statistical series. Inlcudes links to collection of links to primary statistical agencies or portals maintained by member countries. |
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
| Use Statistics=>Database Access link to create, manipulate, and download data on education, communication, and literacy. Use Statistical Tables option for pre-formatted tables. |
United Nations Statistics Division
| Select the Statistical Databases option from the header bar or one of the statistical categories from the left navigation menu. This site has a wealth of national population, economic, and social indicators. In particular, the UN Common Database contains hundreds ot time series covering over 100 countries, with some extending back to approximately 1950. Unfortunately, it's not very intuitive to use, so see this helpful tutorial: http://courses.lib.umn.edu/page.phtml?page_id=1803 |
World Bank
homepage for World Bank | With the exception of basic facts for each country, not much free from this site, unfortunately. See WDI and GDF products described below for the good stuff. |
GDF Online | Create custom tables and extracts from Global Development Finance on public income, expenditures, and debt. This link requries authentication as a Cornell user. |
WDI Online | World Development Indicators allows you to select from a wide range of national demographic, environmental, and economic indicators. This link requries authentication as a Cornell user. See this site for a nice tutorial on its use: http://courses.lib.umn.edu/page.phtml?page_id=1802 |
World Health Organization Statistical Information System (WHOSIS)
| Create customized tables and extracts from an online database of health indicators. |
World Resources Institute
| Focuses on environmental issues and ecosystem/human interaction. Download selected tables and graphs from their many publications as well as spatial data for use with GIS. |
Lists of International Sites
Data from Developing Countries| Links to sources of household surveys, macro times series, and national statistical offices in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. |
Demographic, Population, and Family Planning
| A list of links to national and nongovernmental statistical and demographic agencies. maintained by the UN Population Information Network (POPIN). |
Statistical Agencies (International)
| Especially helpful for locating national statistical agencies in emerging nations. |
Statistical Agencies in the UN/ECE Region
| Links to national and, in some cases, regional statistical agencies. |