Country, Market & Risk Data
Non-Government Related Data Sources
Most of these sources are fee-based. Some sites simply provide information about a company’s offerings; others include data or the possibility of actually viewing or downloading data or a report.
American International Group (AIG)
American International Underwriters website provides information on insurance for companies investing abroad, including political risk insurance. Fee-based.
www.aig.com
Amnesty International
Founded in 1961 in the wake of an appeal for amnesty for two Portuguese students who received a seven-year prison sentence for raising a toast to “freedom,” AI is a worldwide human rights movement; its site provides related information from around the world.
www.amnesty.org
Center for Strategic and International Studies
This non-profit organization is dedicated to educating world leaders about complex international and domestic events, offering publications and symposiums. Some publications are free on the website.
www.csis.org
Country Reports.org
Founded in 1997, this popular site offers country reports with a wide range of topics, including history, economic and political background, statistical details, and cultural information for over 240 countries or geopolitical entities, focusing on the needs of students and teachers.
www.countryreports.net
CountryWatch, Inc.
This site, aimed at secondary-school level, provides basic background information for 191 countries on politics, economics, culture, business, and the environment, as well as a country-specific wire service utilizing various newswires. Fee-based.
www.countrywatch.com
Development Gateway
This is an interactive site for information on development and poverty reduction covering many countries.
www.developmentgateway.org
The Economist
Provides country-specific articles and profiles. Some free information, some fee-based.
www.economist.com/countries
Ethnologue.com
A service of SIL International, this online language database provides detailed information about the many languages used in more than 225 geopolitical entities.
www.ethnologue.com/web.asp
Euromonitor
This site includes industry-specific reports and country-specific demographic and economic data for more than 200 geopolitical entities, as well as descriptions of the political situation and the most recent election. Fee-based.
www.euromonitor.com
Freedom House
This US group produces a wide range of research and training related to promoting “human rights, democracy, free market economics, the rule of law, independent media, and U.S. engagement in international affairs.”
www.freedomhouse.org
Geographic.org
A site with basic country information, apparently designed for young students of geography, including maps, country codes, and flags, but the site also has extensive tables ranking countries according to economic, demographic, health and other data.
www.geographic.org
Infoplease
This site provides free, basic background data and information for most of the world’s geopolitical entities (countries, territories, dependencies, etc.)
www.infoplease.com/countries.html
International Energy Agency
This site provides a host of free data related to a wide range of energy-related topics.
www.iea.org
International Geothermal Association
The IGA, founded in 1988, has members in about 65 countries, working to encourage research, development and utilization of geothermal resources worldwide by gathering and disseminating scientific and technical data and information.
http://iga.igg.cnr.it/index.php
Keesing’s Worldwide
This site provides international news reports and ways to communicate with world leaders, as well as a 40-year online archive of its Record of World Events. Fee-based.
www.keesings.com
Mondaq
This site provides legal, regulatory and financial commentary and information supplied by professional advisors and covers more than 70 countries.
www.mondaq.com
Nation Master
This site provides a wide range of data and a graphical interface to compare countries.
www.nationmaster.com
The Nations Online Project
This free site bills itself is “a portal of gateways to the countries of the world.” Available through nearly 2000 links into the site is a wide variety of information, from official and political websites to sites with news, history, travel, culture, and business information.
www.nationsonline.org
Oanda
This site provides extensive information on foreign exchange and currency trading, as well as services to FX investors, businesses, and travelers. Fee-based with free data.
www.oanda.com
Online Newspapers.com
This site links to “thousands of world newspapers.”
www.onlinenewspapers.com
Paul Hensel’s International Relations Data Site
At his site, this Florida State University professor of political science has put together a substantial set of links to online data “for the serious international relations scholar.”
www.paulhensel.org/data.html
People Facts & Figures
This site provides an array of international population statistics.
www.os-connect.com/pop/
The PRS Group, Inc., CountryData
This site offers historical risk ratings (since 1984) for about 140 countries and current risk forecasts and ratings, as well as extensive economic data, all converted into a single currency for ease of comparison, and ready to download. Fee-based, but some free data.
www.PRSgroup.com/CountryData
Reserve-Bank.com
This is an interesting, privately produced site (by a banknote collector) that provides both links to central banks and pictures of banknotes, country by country.
www.reserve-bank.com
Rulers
This well-researched site lists heads of state and heads of government for all countries and territories of the world, going back as far as 1700; the site also provides a chronological listing of changes in each political entity’s name and national status, a month-by-month chronicle of political events, and an extensive array of political biographies.
rulers.org
Stening Simpson Group
This site, maintained by political risk insurance brokers based in Australia, includes “World Wide Alerts” in the "Political Risk" area, and this is a good place to look for events within the past 24 hours, as well as country risk ratings. Fee based, but with free alerts.
www.steningsimpson.com.au
Stratfor
This website provides regular news reports on current issues. While longer reports are subscription-based, short updates can be obtained free of charge. Useful in keeping up with critical world events. Fee-based with some free information.
www.stratfor.com
Survey Sampling International
This site includes hundreds of links for market research and opinion polling organizations as well as releases of the latest data from opinion polls around the world, many of which are political or security related.
www.worldopinion.com
TradePort
Labeling itself as California’s Gateway for Global Trade, this site offers free information and resources for businesses conducting international trade to and from California. Free.
www.tradeport.org
Transparency International
This NGO examines a key element of most political risk models, corruption, monitoring and ranking perceived corruption in countries around the world. Mostly free.
www.transparency.org
University of California, San Diego
This website lists more than 360 other Internet sites with numeric Social Science statistical data, data catalogs, data libraries, social science gateways, addresses or other data.
http://3stages.org/idata/
World Newspapers
This website lists English language newspapers, magazines and news sites, by country.
www.world-newspapers.com
World Statesmen
This site includes a wide range of historical lists, as well as multiple indexes, related to nations, colonies, cities, international organizations and religious groups.
http://www.worldstatesmen.org/
Zarate’s Political Collection
The "ZPC” databases, managed by the Barcelona-based CIDOB Foundation, include current country rulers, women leaders, and rulers since 1945, as well as biographies of political leaders and links to many government and political sites.
www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/home.htm