Libguides: Country Information: Overall Country Descriptions

Country Information - list of relevant databases via CBS Library

Country information - databases via CBS Library
Link to CBS Library databases specialised in country information

Country statistics - databases via CBS Library
In the mentioned databases you can find a lot of statistics on individual countries, regions, and more

Overall Country Descriptions - Websites

Contains tables and data on the social and economic development of countries and regions in the world. You can find data on more than 200 countries and more than 40 regions.
Search hint: by the menu item "By Country" it is possible to define data for a particular country

You can choose among more than 75 Databases covering different aspects of the development of countries and regions. The amount of Series (data variables) differ from database to database.

UN Data - a world of information

Access to more than 30 databases covering topics as

population
national accounts
education
labour market
price and production indices
international merchandise trade
energy
crime gender
nutrition and health
science and technology
finance and environment
communication
tourism and transport
development assistance

GlobalEDGE Country Insights:
is a web portal to country information and statistics.
In their own words: "Global Insights provides international business and trade information on over 200 countries, the 50 U.S. states, as well as nearly two dozen industry sectors, and many of the world’s trade blocs. Use the drop-down boxes below to find the country, state, industry, or trade bloc you desire."

Insights by Country: statistical data for nearly every country around the world and in addition historical, economic, and political conditions are available
Insights by Trade Bloc: statistics, historical information, and resources pertaining to the world's largest trade blocs
Insights by Economic Classifications: entry by emerging, mature or frontier markets
Insights by Industry: source to find international business-related resources, statistics, risk assessments, and events for 20 distinct industry sectors.
Insights by US State: business and trade information on all 50 U.S. states

CIA World Fact Book :
The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities

”World Leaders”, CIA publishes and updates the online directory of Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments weekly.
Country, Regional and World maps
Flags of the world
Appendices offer information on international weights and measures, geographic codes, international organizations and groups, abbreviations and selected international environmental agreements.
"Guide to Country Comparisons": compares countries based on different criteria such as area, military costs etc.

Global Competitiveness Report:
The Global Competitiveness Report 2019 (published by World Economic Forum) assesses the competitiveness landscape of 140 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity.

BBC Monitoring Country Profiles:
Full profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions. Besides updated news stories they also include audio and video clips from BBC archives.

Background Notes (U.S. Department of State):
"Background Notes", prepared by the US Department of Foreign Affairs, contain general descriptions of countries

Population Resource Bureau:
demographic data on country, regional and world level

Africa Development Indicators
Africa Development Indicators was a primary World Bank collection of development indicators on Africa, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. No further updates of this database are currently planned. See World Development Indicators for more recent data on Africa.

Overall Country Descriptions - CBS Databases

EIU Viewpoint (previous name EIU Country Reports/Profiles)

Covering 203 countries, EIU Viewpoint provides analyses of economic conditions, the business environment, key industry sectors, supply and demand for major commodities, and coverage of global macroeconomic trends.
The content is divided into the following menu items:

Home: here you can find updated analyses on the global, regional and national development. The reports are supported with graphs and charts showcasing key data trends and forecasts. The Insights section provides you with in-depth analyses on politics, economy, and the business environment
Geography: in this section you can quickly access reports on a global, regional and country level. The reports correspond to the EIU Country reports.
Industries: you can find analyses and reports on the following industries: Automotive, Consumer goods, Energy, Financial services, Healthcare, and Telecommunications. Data and reports are available on a global and national level.
Topics: this menu is subdivided into the following sections: Politics, Economy, Policy, Business environment, and Commodities. The content of the first four sections is at country level. The content of the Commodities section is at commodity level
Current Themes: This section brings together updated analysis on current topics such as Environment and sustainability, Global goods and services trade, US-China competition, Coronavirus, and Brexit
Reports: access to readymade reports on global, regional, and country level. You can find reports on a Five-Year Forecast, the Business Environment, the Regulatory Environment and Industry Forecast
Archive: access to reports starting from 2011
Data: access to time series on EIU Ratings, economic indicators, demographics, income and spending, investment and saving, consumer goods, commodity prices, and more. Data are available on country level from 1990 and forwards, and you can view the data as chart or as table and export the data to e.g. Excel.

MarketLine:
Basic information on 110 countries, as well as economic and political information, macroeconomic, demographic and social data (PESTLE analysis). The statistical information consists of figures for the last 5-10 years as well as forecasts. The country reports are all organized according to a PESTLE template. The reports are 60-100 pages with annual updates.
PESTLE: P = Political; E = Economic; S = Social; T = Technological; L = legal; E = Environmental.

Search hint:
Select the menu item "Geographies" on the front page and browse for the desired country or use the search function and limit the search to "Countries".

Business Source Complete:

In this database you can find country reports from vendors such as IHS Markit, Country Watch, MarketLine and BMI, Business Monitor International. Some of these reports include even more political and cultural content than the EIU reports. And you have access to Country Risk Reports from BMI

Search hint:
Search by country and delimit search result to Country Report in the Source Types.
Subsequently, you can choose to limit you search even further through Publication: Country Report (from EIU), Political Risk Yearbook, Country Review, Background Notes on Countries of the World, OECD Economic Surveys, etc.

Or select Advanced search, search for country name in the Title field, chronologically defined for the last couple
of years in the Published Date field and select Country Report in the Publication Type field.

A third way to search reports is by delimiting the vendor name in the Company Entity field under Advanced Search:

OECDiLibrary:
Access to the OECD's extensive collection of publications and statistics.

Search hint:
On the front page, you can browse country by country by using menu item "Country". Under the menu item "Statistics" there is access to "Country Tables" in a number of fields. Likewise, there are access to "OECD Economic Outlook" and "OECD Economic Surveys", where you can find comprehensive descriptions of more than 35 countries. Eg. "OECD Economic Surveys" are available in digital format from 1961 and forwards.

Eurostat:
Eurostat - the EU official statistics office - collects statistics from the 27 countries of the EU and the candidate countries. The database is divided into 9 topic areas and also gives access to publications with comparable figures for all EU and candidate countries. Statistics Explained gives a good introduction to the Eurostat database.

EMIS Professional

EMIS delivers news, company and financial data direct from more than 70 emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It gives emerging market specialists worldwide one-stop Internet access to mission-critical information straight from the local markets and from over 10,500 publications. Whether they are looking for current news, hard-to-get company and industry information, financial markets data or macroeconomic analysis, EMIS offers the definitive solution for convenient access of emerging markets business intelligence.

AsiaPortal

AsiaPortal provides access to articles, journals, newspapers, and databases that cover political, social, and economic aspects of life in the region. Find a list of resources by clicking AsiaPortal E-resources.

Literature from CBS Library on country issues

Literature on country issues
Search in the CBS Library search system for literature on various country issues. Eg. a search on the key word “country descriptions” gives access to a number of books and articles – many of them you will find in the library under the location 308.