98% of all statistics are made up!
--anonymous
What are you looking for? Follow the links to get the figures...
The Population Estimates Program publishes total resident population estimates and demographic components of change (births, deaths, and migration) each year. It also publishes the estimates by demographic characteristics (age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin) for the nation, states and counties. In addition to the resident population universe, there are also population estimates for these universes: resident plus armed forces overseas, civilian, and civilian non-institutional at the national level; and civilian at the state level. The reference date for estimates is July 1. This main site has many links. Some of the more popular are given below.
US Census Statistics on: Age Ancestry Children Abortions/Family Planning/Sexual Activity Disability Education Elderly Families/Living Arrangements Foreign Born Health Insurance Income Poverty Wealth Occupation Americans Overseas Race Voting Enrollment in School Home Workers Veterans
US Department of Justice -- Crime
The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of more than 17,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to their attention. During 2004, law enforcement agencies active in the UCR Program represented 94.2 percent of the total population. For specific links, see below.
FBI Statistics on: Murder Forcible Rape Robbery Aggravated Assault Burglary Larceny/Theft Motor-Vehicle Theft Arson Hate Crimes
US Bureau of Economic Analysis & the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) promotes a better understanding of the U.S. economy by providing the most timely, relevant, and accurate economic accounts data in an objective and cost-effective manner. Sometimes called the nation's accountant, this bureau, an agency of the Department of Commerce, is part of the Department's Economics and Statistics Administration. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor. The BLS also serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor.
Statistics for: Gross Domestic Product Consumer Price Index (Inflation) Wages Foreign Labor Costs Balance of Payments (US Trade deficit/surplus)(click on US International Transactions, 1960-Present, for yearly stats) Employment/Unemployment Mass Layoffs Corporate Profits Consumer Expenditures Personal Income and Outlays
This site has a ton, (oops!), make that a tonne of demographic information for Canada. Look to the links on the left for Data Products, Analysis, and previous census figures.
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For additional help, or if you have corrections or suggestions about the resources on these pages, please contact:
Bill Walker
Librarian
The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
845 758-7729
Can't find what you are looking for?
If you do not find the information you are looking for, it is possible that it is not readily available. For example, older data sets may not be posted on the Internet. That does not mean that they are unavailable. Also, most databases out there are like silos on a farm -- they may contain huge amounts of information, but they are completely self-contained. So when you are looking in one silo, (one agency's website), for the information, it might be in the silo right next door -- but you will be unaware of that. You may need to search and research to find what you are looking for.
When looking for statistics, the hard part is deciding where to look. The rule of thumb is to ask yourself, "Who needs this information?" So, if looking for statistics on crime in the inner city, it wouldn't pay to check with the US Department of Agriculture. The Department of Justice would be a better bet. The USDA would, however, have good data on price-support programs. (Which the Department of Justice probably wouldn't have, although maybe they should. But that is a different argument.)
Whichever agency, US, UN, EU, etc., needs the information, probably collects it. Then, having collected it, probably posts/publishes it. (OK, the CIA and its ilk probably don't publish all they collect, but they do publish a lot.) There is an enormous amount of statistical information out there. You just have to look for it.
So, having said that, let's see where we can look ...
People, people, people...there are more of us all the time...
Domestic Demographic Statistics
Here's a prime portal into the world of numbers for the US. This will give you historical figures and projections, data on health insurance, home ownership, income, press releases and a catalogue of Census Bureau publications and data files.
These files come one-pdf to a state and can be quite large. Housing, economic characteristics, employment, disability, race, language spoken at home. There is also information on using the data.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
In its own words...the Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Use the Abstract as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web. Sources of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations.
International Demographic Statistics
United Nations Population Database
From the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, the Population Division is responsible for monitoring and appraisal of the broad range of areas in the field of population. Statistics are from 1950-2005 and are available by country and can be broken down in many ways.
Select and compare data on up to six different countries at a time (out of the UN's 185). See population data, economic information, health stats, information on technology and the environment. Each area is divided into a half-dozen subsets.
The site where "Statistics come alive!" this is a truly impressive gathering of international data. This massive central data source is a great place to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a large compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD. You can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics using a form right on the homepage. You can also view profiles of individual countries including their maps and flags, use correlation reports and scatterplots to find relationships between variables, and refer to a fully integrated encyclopedia with over one million articles.
Macro Economic Data -- International
UN Conference on Trade and Development -- World Investment Reports
You can find an incredible wealth of information on trade and development throughout the world at this site. Follow the various links to reports, fact sheets on nations, reports on the world's leading Trans National Corporations and more.
There's no getting around the fact that this site has a large amount of information on each and every country or political region in the world -- information on natural resources, human resources and the economy -- all in very easy-to-use format. It's also easily searched.
The Penn World Table provides purchasing power parity and national income accounts converted to international prices for 188 countries for some or all of the years 1950-2004. (The European Union or the OECD provide more detailed purchasing power and real product estimates for their countries and the World Bank makes current price estimates for most PWT countries at the GDP level.)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD)
For more than 40 years, the OECD has been one of the world's largest sources of comparable statistics, and economic and social data. As well as collecting data, the OECD monitors trends, analyses and forecasts economic developments and researches social changes or evolving patterns in trade, environment, agriculture, technology, taxation and more. This link takes you to the Most Frequently Requested statistics.
This is from the World Bank's Data Group whose mission is "to provide high quality national and international statistics to clients within and outside the Bank and to improve the capacity of member countries to produce and use statistical information." This link opens to the Quick Query page, (although you link from it to many other data and statistics pages), where you can select your country, what recent year you want to look at, and from over 50 variables.
The IMF publishes a range of time series data on IMF lending, exchange rates and other economic and financial indicators. Manuals, guides, and other material on statistical practices at the IMF, in member countries, and of the statistical community at large are also available.
International Statistical Agencies -- A Listing
It's from the US Census Bureau, but it's international: a comprehensive listing of the statistical agencies from each nation (or autonomous or semi-autonomous region) around the world. The only drawback is that not all are in English.
This time the listing is from the Bank for International Settlements, (an international organization that provides banking services exclusively to Central Banks for the purposes of monetary and and financial stability), and it is a listing of links to the Central Banks or their equivalents from around the world.
Living Standards Measurement Studies of the World Bank
Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) household surveys have become an important tool in measuring and understanding poverty in developing countries. The Development Economics Research Group (DECRG) of the World Bank, formerly the Policy Research Department, maintains this website to make available to researchers around the world the data sets and methodological lessons from these surveys.
For more than 40 years, the OECD has been one of the world's largest sources of comparable statistics, and economic and social data. As well as collecting data, the OECD monitors trends, analyses and forecasts economic developments and researches social changes or evolving patterns in trade, environment, agriculture, technology, taxation and more.
United Nations, National Accounts Statistics
This National Accounts Statistics database contains a complete and consistent set of time series from 1970 onwards of main national accounts aggregates for all UN Members States and all other countries and areas in the world.
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The World Bank
The World Bank has a number of sites -- all free and full of useful information. Here is a quick listing of some of the most useful:
GenderStats -- Part of the World Bank's Gender Net...contains info on education, health, economic development, labor, political participation and more.
Governance Research Indicators -- this is the portal to updated aggregate governance research indicators for 212 countries for 1996–2006, for the following dimensions of governance: accountability, political stability & absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption.
Country @ a Glance -- a fast look, (PDF), at every country in the world and its social and economic development over the past 30-years.
Education Statistics -- draws on data from UNESCO, OECD and other international agencies.
HNPStats -- health, nutrition and population statistics.
World Health Organization, Statistical Information System
WHOSIS presents the most recent and comprehensive health data on all of the 193 WHO Member States. The data, selected on the basis of quality and availability, relevance to global health, and comparability across member nations, cover over 50 core health indicators, which are organized into six major areas: mortality and burden of disease, health service coverage, risk factors, health system inputs, differentials in health outcome and coverage, as well as basic socio-demographic statistics.
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