Country Research: Country Information

Country Information

Background Notes and Fact Sheets
U.S. Department of State Background Notes include facts on the country's land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and its relations with other countries and the United States. Fact Sheets are very short publications focusing on U.S. relations with the countries. Use the Archive link for the Background Notes through 2012.

Business Source Complete
Select Publications, then from the left menu, Browse by Type/Country Reports. Reports from various sources include career guides, economic competitiveness, economic outlook, analysis, and data to monitor and assess business opportunities and risks around the world.

Lexis Nexis Academic
From the left menu, select Country Information. Business Monitor covers emerging markets. PRS Risk Guides cover economic and political risk in operations, investment, and lending. Country Briefings are no longer updated.

Country Commercial Guides
From the Market Research Library menu, select both a country and a report type. Country Commercial Guides are prepared annually by U.S. embassies with the assistance of several U.S. government agencies. These reports present a comprehensive look through economic, political and market analysis.

Country Studies/Area Handbooks
Because the original intent  was to focus primarily on lesser-known areas of the world or regions in which U.S. forces might be deployed, the series is not all-inclusive or current. The date of information for each country appears on the title page of each country and at the end of each section of text.

Europa World Yearbook
[Reference] JN1 .E85 Catalog Record

Country chapters focus on economic, commercial, and political affairs. Includes international organizations.

globalEdge
globalEDGE provides tools and resources to efficiently research nearly any international business question you may have. Created by the International Business Center at Michigan State University.

International Data Base (IDB) 
Demographic and socioeconomic statistics compiled by the Census Bureau's International Programs Center (IPC) for   227 countries and areas with current populations of 5,000 or more going back to 1950. Data included includes: Population by age and sex; vital rates, infant mortality, and life expectancy; fertility; marital status; and family planning. IDB also includes countries ranked by population for any year from 1950 to 2050 (projected). 

International Financial Statistics
[Reference] HG3881 .I627 Catalog Record
Contains current data on exchange rates, international liquidity, international banking, money and banking, interest rates, prices, production, international transactions, government finance, and national accounts.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Country Information
IMF reports and publications arranged by country. Includes IMF surveys, IMF publications, press releases, public information notices, and IMF annual meeting speeches.

Mergent Online
Country Profile selection box appears on Basic and Advanced Search screens.

OffStats
Statistics from official sources and some non-governmental research organizations arranged by country, region, or subject. Some are only in the national language, but most have an English option. Also see a country list at International Statistics Agencies.

ProQuest Statistical Insight | Statistical Datasets
Search by country, subject, or source. Start with an illustrated guide covering both simple searches and raw data.

World Factbook
Produced by the CIA, the World Factbook offers a brief history of each country and covers the geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues of each country. It also features maps of the world and reference maps. Updated regularly.

United Nations Statistical Yearbook
[Reference] HA12.5 U63 Catalog Record
Based on data compiled by the UN Statistics Division. Separated into four parts: World and Region Summary, Population and Social Statistics, Economic Activity, International Economic Relations. Also see United Nations Statistical databases.