Countries of the World

Country Briefings: Country profiles including background information, political and economic data, forecasts, current news stories and more from The Economist.

NationMaster: This is a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. With this source you can generate maps and graphs with ease on all kinds of statistics. What's more, you can select exactly which countries you want to include

CIA World Factbook: Current Web version of the publication with facts and figures about the countries of the world from the CIA.

Portals to the World: Authoritative information about the nations and other areas of the world selected by Library of Congress subject experts.

Doing Business
This site, from the World Bank is "designed to help businesspeople worldwide conduct business in a wide variety of countries." Country reports cover starting a business, dealing with licenses, registering property and enforcing contracts. The site is viewable in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic and Chinese. Reports are freely downloadable.


Country Studies: Area Handbooks for 70+ countries prepared by the Library of Congress .

Travel Warnings & Consular Information Sheets: Compilation from the U.S. Department of State.

U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants: Current news and features about refugees.

Countries & Regions: Economic facts and figures about more than 100 developing countries worldwide from The World Bank .

Background Notes: From the U.S. Department of State. This site provides information on 198 countries, including both brief facts and longer entries about the people, history, government, political conditions, economy, foreign relations, and travel and business.

Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations: Presents easy-to-understand information on 200 countries and dependencies from around the world. Entries discuss a variety of topics in detail, from banking and securities to climate, from government data to demographic statistics. Also includes biographical essays on national leaders.

Economist Intelligence Unit: Includes Country Reports, Country Profiles, and Market Indicators and Forecasts.