| Free
Data About Global Social Change |
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One of the major selling points of ... The Hitchhiker's Guide
the the Galaxy .. is its compendious and occasionally accurate
glossary. The statistics relating to the geo-social
nature of the Universe, for instance, are deftly set out
between pages nine hundred and thirty-eight thousand three
hundred and twenty-four and nine hundred and thirty-eight
thousand three hundred and twenty-six.
The Restaurant at the end
of the Universe, Douglas Adams, Harmony Books. Quoted by
permission.
These sites list political, economic, demographic data and other
types.
The sites listed here are mainly demography sites, but have
other data as well.
Population Reference Bureau http://www.prb.org/
Click on the World Population Data Sheet, or the data
finder page http://www.prb.org/datafinder.aspx
for some basic demographic data on world countries.
Unicef infant and
child mortality data http://www.childinfo.org/mortality.html
data tables on mortality for infants and for children
under 5. These tables have data for many countries, and
have data for 1960, 70, 80, 90 and 2000.
Economic
data
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The sites listed here are sites mainly about economic data,
but have other data as well.
Penn World Tables http://pwt.econ.upenn.edu/
"The
Penn
World
Table
displays
a
set
of
national
accounts
economic
time
series
covering
many
countries.
Its
expenditure
entries
are
denominated
in
a
common set of prices in a common currency so that real
quantity comparisons can be made, both between countries and
over time. It also provides information about relative
prices within and between countries, as well as demographic data
and capital stock estimates." The Penn World Tables
currently comprise data for 150 countries and 30 subjects,
including population, real GDP, consumption share of GDP,
investment share of GDP, real GDP per adult, a Standard of
Living Index (Consumption plus government consumption minus
military expenditure, % of GDP). The data can be
downloaded at the site above, and there are papers
available. A new version is expected soon.
Groningen Growth and Development Centre
http://www.ggdc.net/
"The Groningen Growth and Development Centre is a
research group of economists and economic historians at the
Economics Department of the University of Groningen. The group
carries out research on comparative analysis of levels of
economic performance and differences in growth rates in the
world economy." They have a number of data bases available
for free including these: Total Economy Database with
timeseries for GDP in constant 1990 and 1999 prices, Employment,
Population and Working Hours for at most 75 countries. Series
for GDP per Capita, GDP per person employed and GDP per hour
worked are also available.Series run from 1950-2002 for OECD
countries and from 1950-2000 for other countries. 60-industry
database: series on value added in current and constant
prices, employment and value added per person engaged for at
most 60-industries covering the economy for 16 countries. Series
run from 1990 onwards. 10-sector database: consists of
series on real GDP in national currencies, employment and, in
some cases, annual working hours by broad sector of the economy
for about 20 countries across North America, Europe, Asia and
Latin America from 1950 onwards. ICOP industry Database:
provides estimates of comparative productivity levels by
industry, which are compiled within the framework of the
International Comparisons of Output and Productivity project. We
now provide annual series from 1950-2000 for manufacturing. The
ICOP Database presently covers approximately 30 countries. They
also publish working papers.
Economic Growth Resources http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Economics/Growth/
"These pages are designed as a resource for researchers studying
economic growth". See the data page http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Economics/Growth/datasets.htm
with links to various data sets.
ECONOMIC FREEDOM
OF THE WORLD Annual Report by the Fraser
Institute. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/
The
report
can
be
found
at
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/programsandinitiatives/economicfreedom.htm
The
summary
index
is
based
on
23
components
designed
to
identify
the
consistency
of
institutional
arrangements
and
policies
with
economic
freedom
in
seven
major areas, including size of govt, structure of markets,
freedom to trade with foreigners, and other... See
the freetheworld book page http://www.freetheworld.com/book.html
that also lists the current report, and earlier reports, and
research generated from the economic freedom of the world.
The data are also here http://www.freetheworld.com/datasets_efw.html
INTERSTATE STATISTICAL COMMITTEE OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES. http://www.cisstat.com/ see the Main Macroeconomic Indicators
page http://www.cisstat.com/eng/macro0.htm
The pages for individual countries have annual data from 1995
to 2002 on indicators such as GDP, CPI, Capital Investments,
and so on.
Professor Jeffrey G. Williamson's
papers on the web http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/williamson/jwilliamworkingpapers
see especially his sets of data: Real Wages and
Relative Factor Prices in the Third World 1820-1940.
Includes data for Mediterranean, Asia, Latin America.
International Trade Data
http://pss.la.psu.edu/TRD_DATA.htm
"This
data
set
is
version
1.1
of
Katherine
Barbieri's
national
and
dyadic
trade
data,
which
covers
the
period
1870-1992."
This
data
set
contains
total
and
bivariate trade data for Correlates of War countries.
The world economy statistics
http://www.theworldeconomy.org/statistics.htm
This book is from Angus Maddion, at the OEDC. Very
interesting data, including very long term data. For
example, Table 1-3 Level and Rate of Growth of GDP: World
and Major Regions, 0-1998 A.D., and Figure 1-4
Comparative Levels of GDP Per capita: China and West Europe,
400-1998 A.D These are samples from the
book.
INDEX OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM http://www.heritage.org/index/
measures the level of freedom and prospects for growth in
our global economy. The Index is a practical reference guide to
the economies of 161 countries. This site links to the
book. You can see the rankings of the countries, including
rankings from 1995 through current. Can also find it
here http://www.heritage.org/index/Default.aspx
Includes data in both urls.
McKEEVER
INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC POLICY ANALYSIS http://www.mkeever.com/welcome.html
inlcudes ratings of economic policies of about 27
countries. Specifically, the ratings look at whether the
policies facilitates or obstruct wealth creation.
ILO labor
statistics data http://laborsta.ilo.org
includes
"Yearly
statistics
of
Employment,
Unemployment,
Hours
of
Work,
Wages,
Labour
Cost,
Consumer
Price
Indices,
Occupational
Injuries,
Strikes
and
Lockouts"
1969
to
current.
Also,
"Monthly statistics of Employment, Unemployment, Hours of Work,
Wages, Consumer Price Indices. 1976 to current.
Completeness of data for yearly and monthly varies by country,
for example, some countries only have data for 1990 to present,
some earlier.
World
bank http://go.worldbank.org/8HKVHK4HP0
(very long url) has a table showing income distribution.
The table is labeled WDI 2007 poverty. The years of the
data vary from 1993 to 2005.
Luxembourg Income
Study site http://www.lisproject.org/
especially
see
the
LIS
key
figures,
"Summary
measures
for
all
datasets
in
the
LIS
archive
are
reported."
such
as
income
inequality,
relative
poverty
rates,
poverty rates for children. These tables are free.
The actual data is free to academic researchers in member
countries, and to students world wide.
Global
Competitiveness Report http://www.weforum.org/reports
ranking countries. "The Global Competitiveness Report is
a contribution to enhancing our understanding of the key factors
which determine economic growth, and explain why some countries
are so much more successful than others in raising income levels
and opportunities for their respective populations, and in
joining the upper ranks of international competitiveness."
Inequality
Project http://utip.gov.utexas.edu/
has a data page. UTIP is a small research group concerned
with measuring and explaining movements of inequality in wages
and earnings and patterns of industrial change around the
world."
UNCTAD World Investment Report http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=1465
includes data sets such as Inward FDI Stock as a
Percentage of Gross Domestic Product, and many others.
World Income Inequality Database http://www.wider.unu.edu/research/Database/en_GB/database/
"Developed
over
the
period
1997-99,
the
World
Income
Inequality
Database
(WIID)
provides
information
on
income
inequalities
at
both
cross-country
and
time
series
levels.
It presents data on changes in income inequality over the period
1950-98, with a particular focus on the period since 1980 for
149 countries." From the United Nations University.
Some problem loading this page, but another version
is here http://www.siuc.edu/~fsolt/swiid/swiid.html
The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems
(CSES) http://www.cses.org/
"collaborative
program
of
cross-national
research
among
election
studies
conducted
in
over
fifty
consolidated
and
emerging
democracies.
The
goals
of
this
unique
program
of
research
are
threefold: illuminate how electoral institutions constrain the
beliefs and behaviors of citizens to condition the nature and
quality of democratic choice as expressed through popular
elections; understand the nature of political and social
cleavages and alignments; and shed light on how citizens, living
under diverse political arrangements, evaluate democratic
institutions and processes." They can look at
"satisfaction with the performance of democracy: how do citizens
respond to varying institutional forms of democracy?"
Freedom house http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=1
especially see their country ratings page, which is "an
annual assessment of state state of freedom by assigning each
country and territory the status of "Free," "Partly Free," or
"Not Free" by averaging their political rights and civil
liberties ratings. This data is available as html,
excel and pdf, for 1972/73 to the current year.
Kansas Event Data System (KEDS)
http://web.ku.edu/~keds/data.html
"The Kansas Event Data System uses automated coding of
English-language news reports to generate political event
data. These data are used in statistical early warning
models to predict political change." As I understand it,
this is data about dyadic interacations between pairs of
countries. The interactions could be diplomatic (e.g.,
denounce), or military (e.g., mobilize, or force), or
economic.
The Polyarchy Scale http://www.nd.edu:80/~mcoppedg/crd/datacrd.htm
This
is
a
scale
"measuring
thresholds
of
polyarchy
in
every
independent
state
in
the
world
as
of
mid-1985."
Also
has
updated
data
for 2000. Developed by Michael Coppedge. The scale
ranges from "Meaningful fair elections are held, there is full
freedom for political organization and expression, and there is
no preferential presentation of official views in the media." to
"No meaningful elections are held, all organizations are banned
or controlled by the government or official party, all public
dissent is suppressed, and there is no public alternative to
official information."
The Center for
Systemic Peace http://www.systemicpeace.org/
has
a
bunch
of
data
sets including the Polity IV (governance), armed conflict,
terrorists, and more. Look at other data on the Center for
International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM)
at http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/
Sachs and Warner http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Economics/Growth/sachs.htm
this
data
set
includes
some
economic
data
such
as
per
capita
gdp
growth,
purchasing
power,
but
also
the
degree
to
which
an
economy
is rated as 'open' and 'institutional quality index' which is
political stability, corruption, a few other criteria. The
Sachs and Warner data set is also available at http://www.cid.harvard.edu/ciddata/ciddata.html
SIPRI database on
military expenditure http://www.sipri.org/databases
especially read the sources and methods carefully.
World bank
governance indicators http://go.worldbank.org/KUDGZ5E6P0
data on corruption and other governance
indicators. This data set is also listed at the World
Bank Research Data Sets described above. The
variables in this data set are: Voice and Accountability,
Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government
Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of
Corruption.
Failed States
Index http://www.fundforpeace.org/global/
"It assesses violent internal conflicts and measures the
impact of mitigating strategies." Started in 2005.
This is from the Fund for Peace. They also have
explanations of why each state got their score.
Social
data
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WORLD DATABASE
OF HAPPINESS http://www1.eur.nl/fsw/happiness/
This is "an ongoing register of scientific research on
subjective appreciation of life. It brings together findings
that are scattered throughout many studies and provides a basis
for meta-analytical studies." The data are available as an
spss file from the author. Also, click on Finding Reports and then Rank reports of Happiness in
Nations. This leads to a table showing a list of
countries and their average happiness. You can also go to Happiness in Nations, then Search Findings by Item Type and some of the
questions have data for a large number of counries.
Unesco statistics about education Indicators and data bases of
education. http://www.uis.unesco.org/Pages/default.aspx
click "literacy" then "statistical tables". Requires Java.
Barro-Lee
education data set http://www.cid.harvard.edu/ciddata/ciddata.html
"International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates
and Implications" with dataset prepared in Feb 2000.
UN Refugee agency
http://www.unhcr.ch/
a
ton of international refugee data, including current and some
trend statistics. Click on refugee statistics, then there
are a number of reports available. The annual reports are
in pdf.
Ethnic, linguistic and religious fractionalization http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty_pages/romain.wacziarg/papersum.html fractionalization data available here, as well as a paper, by Romain Wacziarg and others. Fractionalization is presented for three factors: ethnic, linguistic and region. Data for each country varies from 1983 (e.g. Angola) to 1998 (e.g., Austria), but seems only for one year for each country. Overall, there is high correlation between ethnicity and language (0.63) but low correlation between language and religion (0.24) and between religion and ethnicity (0.14). That is, ethnicity and language seem tied together, but religion seems independent.
Ethnolinguistic Fractionalization (ELF)
Indices for 1961 and 1985 http://weber.ucsd.edu/~proeder/data.htm
Dr.
Roeder
writes
that
"A
common
interpretation
of
the
index
is
that
it
is
the
probability
that
two
individuals
chosen
at
random
from the population (country) will be from different ethnic
groups." There is high correlation between Roeder's ELF
and Wacziarg et al's ethnic (0.79) and language (0.75)
fractionalization, but low between ELF and religious (0.33)
fractionalization.
The Press Freedom Survey http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=16
from the freedom house. Annual survey from
1994 so far through 2007, but .
Quality of Life http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf
Quality of life data for 2005, includes data. The data
are also in this file http://gsociology.icaap.org/data/PD_useful.xls
available on my data sets page.
Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index http://www.weforum.org/issues/travel-and-tourism-competitiveness/
from World Economic Forum
Social Statistics http://www.postyour.info/
A
kind
of
social
survey
for
anyone.
They
post
some
questions
(and
you
can
suggest
some),
people
answer,
then
you
can
either
get some statistics on line or download the data set.
Crime
data
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National Accounts of Well-being http://www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org/
Measuring national well-being http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/index.html
Gross National Happiness http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/
Centre
for Bhutan Studies
Canadian Index of Wellbeing http://ciw.ca/en/
Democide http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/
murder by governments.
Environmental Sustainability Index http://www.yale.edu/esi/
According
to
the
site,
"The
Environmental
Sustainability
Index
(ESI)
is
a
measure
of
overall
progress
towards
environmental
sustainability,
developed
for
142
countries.
The
ESI
scores are based upon a set of 20 core "indicators," each of
which combines two to eight variables for a total of 68
underlying variables. The ESI permits cross-national comparisons
of environmental progress in a systematic and quantitative
fashion. It represents a first step towards a more analytically
driven approach to environmental decisionmaking."
The CSGR Globalisation Index http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/csgr/index/
"measures
the
economic,
social
and
political
dimensions
of
globalisation
for
countries
on
an
annual
basis
over
the
period
1982
to
2004,
and
combines
these into an overall globalisation index, or score."
Internet World
Stats, http://www.internetworldstats.com/
An International website featuring worldwide up to date
Internet Usage Statistics and 2007 Population Data for over 233
countries and world regions. Their world table http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
shows world data, 2006, and they have more detailed data by
region.
BLS link to other official data sites http://www.bls.gov/bls/other.htm
UN links to other official data sites http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/inter-natlinks/sd_natstat.htm
Official Statistics of the world http://www.offstats.auckland.ac.nz/Key Starting
Points for Statistics http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/stats.htm
Data
on
all
sorts
of
topics.
Some
are
free
but
many
are
not.
But
this
lists
so
many
varies
sources
its
worth
looking at.
Development
Data http://www.developmentdata.org/
Data on topics related to development.
Guide to freely available international data resources http://www.esds.ac.uk/International/access/guide.asp from ESDS international
The Macro Data
Guide http://www.nsd.uib.no/macrodataguide/index.html
has some comments about the data quality
This Open Directory page http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Government/Multilateral/Regional/
also lists various regional organizations, many of which
have data.
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last modified 11/23/11
last verified 11/23/11
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2009
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