Introduction
Getting current, authoritative economic indicators for a country (or a set of countries) is one of the most common research needs within GPS, and a dozen or so publications here answer most of the recurring queries. Far and away our top two statistical publishers are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which feature suites of key data products.
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World Bank
The recent World Bank "Open Data" initiative has released scores of datasets and thousands of series for public use. -
World Development Indicators (WDI)The primary World Bank database for development data from officially-recognized international sources is now augmented with external debt and financial flows statistics. WDI contains over 1400 series dating as far back as 1960.
Alternative views of World Bank open data come from these new sites. -
Data CatalogIncludes African Development Indicators, Education Statistics, Gender Statistics, Global Economic Monitor, Health Nutrition Population Statistics, Joint External Debt Hub, Millennium Development Goals, Quarterly External Debt Statistics, and more. Includes time series, microdata, and geospatial collections.
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Global Economic Monitor (GEM)Providing daily updates of global economic developments, with coverage of high income- as well as developing countries. Daily data updates are provided for exchange rates, equity markets, and emerging market bond indices. Monthly data coverage (updated daily and populated upon availability) is provided for consumer prices, high-tech market indicators, industrial production and merchandise trade.
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International Monetary Fund
The top IMF data products migrated from subscription to open. -
IMF DataCarries the flagship International Financial Statistics (IFS) database with exchange rates, balance of payments, money supply, total imports and exports, GDP, and much more. Also with Balance of Payments Statistics (BOPS), Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS), Government Finance Statistics (GFS), and new foreign investment and financial soundness indicators.
These IMF data products are free. -
Primary Commodity PricesIncludes a spreadsheet file (CSV) with monthly data for 8 price indices and 49 actual price series from 1980.
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World Economic Outlook DatabaseThe World Economic Outlook (WEO) database contains selected macroeconomic data series from the statistical appendix of the World Economic Outlook report, which presents IMF analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups, and for many individual countries.
iMFdirect: IMF Global Economy Forum
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More Global Coverage
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FAOSTAT (UN Food and Agriculture Organization)Country food, agriculture, fisheries, land, and foresty statistics, including production, prices, and trade.
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Global Financial DataGFD provides some 6500 historical and current financial and economic data series from over 150 countries. Many series reach back with deep data runs to prior centuries. Easy graphing and downloading is available on the system.
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Human Development Indicators (United Nations Development Programme)Human Development Index, Gender Inequality Index, and Multidimensional Poverty Index composites and components for 195 countries.
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ILOSTATIncludes economically active population, employment and unemployment, hours of work, wages, labor cost, consumer price indices, occupational injuries, strikes and lockouts, household income and expenditure, and international labor migration.
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Global SDG Indicators Database (UN)This platform provides access to data compiled through the UN System in preparation for the Secretary-General's annual report on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
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Principal Global IndicatorsEconomic monitoring tool for G-20 countries, with key monthly, quarterly, and annual series drawn from latest OECD, IMF, and World Bank sources.
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OECD iLibraryInteractive subscription database of OECD books, periodicals, and statistics. Country coverage includes members Mexico, Korea, and Japan. Additional non-member coverage for Brazil, China, Indonesia, India.
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UNCTADstatInteractive database for merchandise trade (including by region and by product), international trade in services, foreign direct investment (stocks and flows), national accounts, balance of payments, exchange rates, commodities, debt, development assistance, remittances, international reserves, population and labor force, and maritime transport.
See also their FDI "Country Fact Sheets" with latest data in ready PDF releases.
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UNdataInteractive free database of UN and international agency country data series, including economic, social, energy, and environmental indicators. Coverage as far back as 1944.
Regional Sources
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CEPALSTAT (United Nations ECLAC)Demographic, social, economic, environmental, and related statistics. Includes coverage of Millennium Development Goals (MDG), gender, social cohesion, sustainable development, and information and communication technologies (ICT).
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Numbers for Development (Inter-American Development Bank)New consolidated data portal.
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Key Indicators Database (Asian Development Bank)The Key Indicators Database (KIDB) is ADB's central statistical database and one of the world's most comprehensive resources for macroeconomic and social indicators from across Asia and the Pacific. Containing data on 49 ADB regional member economies from 2000 onwards, the KIDB provides 1,192 indicators relating to national accounts, prices, government finance, trade, balance of payments, money and banking, external debt, population, labor force, and social indicators.
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Data & Statistics (United Nations ESCAP)Includes Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and related indicators for Asia and Pacific region.
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Data (World Trade Organization)The WTO Data portal contains statistical indicators related to WTO issues. Available time series cover merchandise trade and trade in services statistics, market access indicators (bound, applied & preferential tariffs), non-tariff information as well as other indicators. Data retrieval functionalities include data selection, display and export, including available metadata.
Country Sources
National statistical offices, central banks, and government ministries in most countries offer varying amounts of official country data online. Use these lists to identify sites across the globe.
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International Data (FRED)Compiled by Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. IES simplifies the search for worldwide economic indicators, with links to individual series (such as GDP and CPI) for each country, as well as a detailed description of the data. Descriptions are searchable by title, country, subject, and keyword. The links are checked regularly to maintain accuracy. Indicators are continually added.
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International Statistical AgenciesCompiled by U.S. Census Bureau.