Research Guides: POLS 068: Globalization (SC): Finding Data & Statistics

Finding Data & Statistics

The resources on this page can help you identify a specific dataset to use for your research. Many of these resources will offer an Excel spreadsheet (.xls) to download in order to view the data. Look for the "codebook" and other documentation to help you make sense of the dataset and what each variable is measuring.

Quick Sources for Statistics

These links point to just a few of the many resources offering statistics (and raw data). For a larger list, check out the Tri-Co Libraries Census and Statistics Guide.

World Development Indicators (WDI) Online This link opens in a new window
Quickly pull up statistics from the World Bank related to development issues, population, environmental indicators, and more. Covers 210 countries and 18 regional and income groups.

DataGov
DataGov contains approximately 800 governance indicators for a global sample of countries. Data sources include the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, Freedom House, and others. The interactive tool permits users to easily produce cross-national comparative and time series graphs and tables for immediate printing or for export to Excel.
UNdata
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UNdata lets you search across many of the statistics produced by different agencies within the UN. Find statistics on a wide range of development-related issues and more. Also note the links to country statistical agencies, which can help you find (government-produced) statistics for the country you're researching.

Statista: The Leading Statistics Portal
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Use Statista to find statistics related to business, employment, economic development, sales, prices, and more in the US and elsewhere.

Search Tip: Try scrolling down and browsing by topic.
Social Explorer
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Easily create reports (tables) and maps from US Census data. Probably the quickest way to find demographic statistics and statistical information on education, religion, and more in the US.

Economic & Development Data

International Financial Statistics This link opens in a new window
Contains time series data for most IMF members (over 200 countries) from 1993-present, covering exchange rates, international liquidity, money and banking accounts, interest rates, production, stock prices, international transactions, government accounts, national accounts, and commodity and trade statistics. Updated monthly.

How to use IFS: Click the link for your school, then scroll down to "Query within a Dataset" and select "International Financial Statistics (IFS)."

To find information using IFS, you need to specify at least one Country and at least one Concept (e.g. interest rates). Use the plus signs to expand lists of countries and concepts, then click on your choices to add them to the search (at the left).

You can export your query results as a Word Document, PDF, or Excel file - just click the icons at the top of the results page.
World Development Indicators (WDI) Online This link opens in a new window
World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized international sources. It includes more than 1100 indicators on population, income, social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environment, covering 210 countries and 18 regional and income groups. Also includes the International Debt Statistics (IDS) database. Data ranges from 1960-present.

Direction of Trade Statistics
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The Direction of trade statistics (DOTS) database provides figures on the value of merchandise exports and imports by trade partners as well as area and world aggregates showing trade flows between major areas of the world. DOTS provides access to monthly, quarterly and annual trade data from 1948 to 1999 for about 180 countries and geographic areas.
FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)
An intergovernmental organization with 190+ members, FAO experts collect, analyze and disseminate data from local projects to global programs, establish protocols and impact food policies.
Eurostat
Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union. It provides European Union statistics that enable comparisons between countries and regions.

Measuring Democracy

SIPRI Databases
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute offers multiple databases that you can use for research in POLS 067.

Try the SIPRI Portal to compare the data related to international arms transfers, world military expenditure, the arms and military services industry, and multilateral peace operations.
Freedom in the World: Annual Report
This well-known annual report by the organization Freedom House assigns a status ("free," "partly free," "not free") to 195 countries and 14 related and disputed territories. Freedom House also produces a narrative report for each country and territory. The Freedom in the World report has been published annually since 1972.

To find the ratings and reports from a specific year, scroll down to the bottom of the site and use the drop-down menu to select the year.

(example of a narrative report)
Freedom House Reports
Links to other Freedom House reports including Freedom of the Press and Freedom on the Net, as well as regionally-focused reports on the Middle East and the former Communist states in Eastern Europe.
Worldwide Governance Indicators
This World Bank dataset offers the following governance indicators for 213 countries: Voice and accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government effectiveness, Regulatory quality, Rule of law, and Control of corruption. Covers 1996-2011.

Click the link for interactive data access to easily view charts and tables, or access the full dataset in Excel format.
International Country Risk Guide
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The ICRG (International Country Risk Guide) Researcher's Dataset from the PRS Group comprises 22 variables in three subcategories of risk (political, financial, and economic), for 146 countries, over the period 1984 to the previous year. Data are annual averages of components published in the International Country Risk Guide.
Polity IV
Use the Polity IV reports to examine the authority characteristic of states. The Polity IV dataset covers all major, independent states in the global system (i.e., states with total population of 500,000 or more in the most recent year; currently 167 countries) over the period 1800-2012.

Data & Statistics

UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) has recorded ongoing violent conflicts since the 1970s. Use this dataset to find information about armed conflicts from 1946-2012. The codebook explains each individual variable and how it is measured.
ACLED: Armed Conflict Location and Events Dataset
This dataset codes the locations, dates and types of all reported conflict events in over 50 countries in the developing world, covering 1997-present. You can use the data in Excel and many GIS applications.