International Documents Collection

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Countries and Regions: Statistics and Text Resources:

Contents

  • Part 1: Ready reference: IGO web sites and maps
  • Part 2: Country handbooks, reports and surveys, statistics
  • Part 3: Statistics in electronic format
  • Part 4: Regional IGOs
  • Special topic: Researching Arab countries

In addition to this web page, these sources may be helpful:


 Part 1: Ready Reference: IGO web sites and maps
 

 Part 2: Country handbooks, reports and surveys, statistics
 

  IGO and commercially published sources

These resources are on NUnet, the Northwestern University network. Northwestern community members whose computers are not on NUnet must follow the instructions on the proxy services guide to access these resources. To find additional electronic resources, go to the Electronic Resources catalog.

  • Economist Intelligence Unit
    • Northwestern University Library subscribes to Country Reports for all African countries, and all 136 Country Profiles for 200 countries.
    • Country Reports: main report issued every 3 months, monthly updates for key countries. Reports contain summary of main political and economic events of the past quarter, political structure, economic structure, political and economic outlook for the next 18-24 months, analysis of recent trends, illustrations of recent economic trends, and key economic data.
    • Country Profiles: annual report on the long-term political and social issues affecting the country, statistical tables with a five-year run of data on issues such as manufacturing, fiscal policy and unemployment.

  • Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Economic Surveys
    • annual reviews of the economies of the 30 OECD member countries and selected non-member countries
    • surveys contain analysis of developments in the subject country, special reports on topics of current interest, and extensive statistical information
    • approximately 18 surveys are published per year, so not all countries are surveyed every year
    • Countries surveyed: Australia, Austria ,Baltic States, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Euro Area, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia, Fed. Rep.
        The surveys are available in two formats:
      • In print in Gov Info. The current year's surveys are shelved in the reference room.
      • The full-text of the most current surveys are on-line through the Source OECD web site.
        1. From any computer on NUnet, go to http://www.sourceoecd.org
        2. In the "Quick Search" box type "economic survey." You may also include a country name in the search.
U.S. Federal government sources
 
  • The CIA World Factbook
    • https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
    • This site links to the full-text of the current year's World Factbook.
    • There are 267 entities in the Factbook. Each contains these sections: introduction, geography, people, government (lists political parties and their leaders), economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.
    • Print issues of the World Factbook (1981-) are located in Gov Info; the current issue is in Gov Info Reference.

  • U.S. Department of State Background Notes
    • http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
    • This site links to the full-text of all Background Notes.
    • There are Background Notes for 188 countries. Each containing sections devoted to: people, history, government, political conditions, economy, foreign relations, U.S. relations, and travel/business.
    • "The Background Notes are updated/revised by the Office of Electronic Information and Publications of the Bureau of Public Affairs as they are received from the Department's regional bureaus and are added to the database of the Department of State"

See also: The Europa World Year Book. Latest volume in Main Reference, call number 314.2 E892.  


 Part 3: Statistics in electronic format
 
These resources are on NUnet, the Northwestern University network. Northwestern community members whose computers are not on NUnet must follow the instructions on the proxy services guide to access these resources. To find additional electronic resources, go to the Electronic Resources catalog.

  • ISI Emerging Markets
    • The Emerging Markets database provides full-text news, publications, statistics, and company and industry information for more than 40 emerging markets.
    • "Emerging markets" refers to recently industrialized countries that have a stock market.
    • The availability of statistics and their time series varies by country.

    • Begin by choosing a country.
      1. Click on the "Macroeconomics" tab. If there is no "Marcoeconomics" tab, there are no statistics available for that country.
      2. The statistical series include demographic and employment information, economic structure, prices and inflation, fiscal and fiscal system information, monetary data, balance of payments, and debt and resource flows.
      3. Statistics are in Excel format.

  • LexisNexis Statistical
    • LexisNexis Statistical is the gateway to the Index to International Statistics (IIS), which is an index to approximately 2,000 titles from some 100 international intergovernmental organizations.
    • The full-text of the sources indexed by IIS, from 1995 to the present, are in microfiche in Gov Info. IIS fiche is filed by record number. For example, Record Number: IIS 2001 3000-D606.
    • Use country names as keywords or check "by country."

  • UNdata
    • The UNdata is the "largest and most authoritative compilation of United Nations and agency statistics ever compiled, covering economic, social, financial and development topics...In most cases time series are available from 1970 or 1980 and many series are disaggregated to show underlying distributions."
  • UNESCO Institute for Statistics Country Profiles
    • Select a country from the drop down menu. UNESCO provides statistics on Population, Life Expectancy, Education, Films, Books, Newspapers, Libraries, and Research Development.
  • World Development Indicators (WDI)
    • WDI is a networked CD-ROM, published by the World Bank.
    • The latest print edition of WDI is available in Gov Info Reference 330.05 W9721.

 Part 4: Regional IGOs
 
  • African Union
    • http://www.africa-union.org/
    • Member states (44): Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Cote D'ivoire, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Sao Tome And Principe, Seychelles, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
    • Established May 25, 1963

     

  • Commonwealth of Independent States
    • http://www.cisstat.com/eng/cis.htm
    • Participants (12): Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine
    • Created in December 1991
    • The Commonwealth of Independent States Statistical Yearbook (Moscow, 2000) is in Gov Info reference, call number 314.705 S679.

     

  • European Union

 

  • League of Arab States
    • http://www.arableagueonline.org/
    • Member countries (22): Algeria, Bahrain, Comeros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen
    • Established March 22, 1945

  • Organization of American States
    • http://www.oas.org/
    • Member states (35): Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba*, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
      * By resolution of the Eigth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (1962) the current Government of Cuba is excluded from participation in the OAS.
    • the OAS Charter was drawn up March 20-May 2, 1948

       

United Nations Regional Commissions

  • United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
    • http://www.uneca.org/index.htm
    • Member states (53): Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
    • Established in 1958

  • United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
    • http://www.unece.org/Welcome.html
    • Member countries (55): Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, and Yugoslavia
    • Established 1947
    • Statistical Data on the Internet http://www.unece.org/stats/data.htm

  • United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
    • http://www.eclac.org/
    • Member states (41): Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Granadines, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela
    • Associate members (7): Anguilla, Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands (all are non-independent territories in the Caribbean)
    • Statistical Information http://www.eclac.org/estadisticas/default.asp?idioma=IN

  • United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
    • http://unescap.org/
    • Member states (53): Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Fiji, France, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Korea (Democratic People's Republic of), Korea (the Republic of), Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic (the), Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands (the), Micronesia (Federated States of), Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands (the), New Zealand, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines (the), Russian Federation (the), Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the), United States of America (the), Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, and Viet Nam
    • Associate members (9): American Samoa, Cook Islands (the); French Polynesia; Guam; Hong Kong, China; Macao, China; New Caledonia; Niue; and Northern Mariana Islands (the)
    • Statistics Division http://unescap.org/stat/index.htm

  • United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

 Special Topic: Researching Arab Countries
 

Search NUcat

Please follow the guidelines suggested in Searching NUcat for Sources on Arab Countries pdf. file.

Search for articles

These resources are on NUnet, the Northwestern University network. Northwestern community members whose computers are not on NUnet must follow the instructions on the proxy services guide to access these resources. To find additional electronic resources, go to the Electronic Resources catalog.

 

Expanded Academic ASAP

  • Available on NUnet, this is a database containing citations, abstracts and full-text to scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers.
  • List of sources available through EXAC
  • Search using EXAC subject terms: Arab League, Arabs, Arabs and Islam, [country name,] Islam and State, Palestinian Arabs, etc
  • coverage 1980 - present

Index Islamicus

  • The Index Islamicus database indexes literature on Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world. It contains over 300,000 citations to articles and monographs dealing with all aspects of Muslim life and Middle Eastern studies.
  • coverage 1906-present

LexisNexis Academic

  • LexisNexis Academic is a legal, news and business information service which contains several thousand full-text publications.
  • For news from actual Middle East and/or Arabic news sources: select Guided News Search>>World News>>News Source (region).

IGOs and governmental organizations

United Nations Agencies, Divisions, and Regional Commissions

The latest issues of these ESCWA publications are shelved in the Gov Info reference area.

Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Bulletin on Vital Statistics in the ESCWA Region. New York: United Nations, 2005. Call number: 315.6 B936

Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Demographic and Related Socio-Economic Data Sheets. Beirut: United Nations, 2001. Call number: 304.60956 D383

Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. External Trade Bulletin of the ESCWA Region. New York: United Nations, 2005. Call number: 382.0953 N253

Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. National Accounts Studies of the ESCWA Region. New York: United Nations, 2005. Call number: 339.3205 D597

Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Statistical Abstract of the ESCWA Region. New York: United Nations, 2005. Call number: 315.6 M2333

Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the ESCWA Region 2004-2005. New York: United Nations, 2005. Call number: 330.956 S963

Non-governmental and educational institutions

 

Last updated: 08.11.08