Country Information: Selected Resources

Best starting points

Background Notes.  U.S. Department of State.
Provides information on the history, economy, foreign relations, political conditions, and government for over 190 countries. Also available through Stat-USA  (Stat-USA -> Globus & NTDB -> Market and Country Research -> Country Background Notes.) 

Countries & Regions: Country Profiles.  U.K. Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
The Country Profiles provide overviews for over 200 countries and regions around the world.

Doing Business Database.  World Bank.
The Doing Business database provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement. The Doing Business indicators are comparable across 155 economies.

Euromonitor Global Market Information Database. (UST subscription database)
Country demographics, economic conditions, consumer lifestyle profiles, and more.

Europa World Plus.  (UST subscription database)
Europa World Plus covers economic and political information in more than 250 countries and territories.

The World Factbook.  Central Intelligence Agency. 
Brief background information on the countries of the world. (Also in print: Ref. G 122 .U56a.)

Additional sources for country information

Area Studies.  University of Keele, Great Britain.
Links to sites with information on specific countries, including country profiles, election information, and national sites.

BBC News Country Profiles.  BBC Monitoring.
Includes an overview of recent history and the current political situation of each country, basic facts, and a media overview.  Good for current information.

Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook. (UST subscription database)
Reports on contemporary political and economic conditions, government personnel, political parties, policies, and more.

Country Links A-Z.  James Vileta, University of Minnesota Duluth.
A meta site containing over 10,000 country-related links.

Country Profiles in Lexis-Nexis Business. (UST subscription database)
Choose the Country Profiles link. Includes reports from several international sources.

Country Reports in Business Source Premier.  (UST subscription database)
Choose the Country Reports link. Country reports include Country Monitors, Country Profiles, and Country Reviews (EIU Country Reports are under the title "Country Report {CountryName}"; Datamonitor Country Profiles are under "{CountryName} Country Profile.")  Some reports have a six-month delay due to publisher restrictions.

Culture and Customs Series.
Series of books on the culture and customs of various countries. Not all countries are included yet in this ongoing series.

Economist.com's Country Briefings. 
News, country profiles, and more on 60 countries. The Cities Guide covers 25 of the world's largest cities. Not all content is free.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. (UST subscription database)
Basic encyclopedia information on many topics.

Foreign Government Resources on the Web.  University of Michigan Documents Center.
Directory of governmental websites and other information.

globalEDGE International Country Insights.
Brief summary information on a country in a convenient, one-page format.

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions.
Comparison of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. Based on research by Prof. Geert Hofstede.

Inter-Source. (Centre for Intercultural Learning, Canada)
See especially "Country Insights," which provides information on countries and intercultural issues such as communication style and workplace issues.

Internet Public Library's Calendars. 
Includes resources for holidays in different countries.

Internet Public Library's Online Newspaper Links.
Browse by country or title, or search the collection.

Lexis-Nexis.  (UST subscription database)
Full-text articles from newspapers and other publications from across the globe.

Library of Congress Country Profiles.
Brief, summarized information on a country's historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security.

Library of Congress Country Studies.  (Area Handbook Series.) 
Each country study includes information on the economic, political, and social systems of a particular country. The people, their beliefs and values, and their interpersonal relationships are discussed.  Published between 1986 and 1998, the studies cover 102 countries and regions.  Also available through Stat-USA   (Stat-USA -> Globus & NTDB -> International Trade Library Highlights -> Country Studies Program.)  Also available in print for individual checkout; check the CLICnet library catalog for the Area Handbook series.

Lonely Planet Online. 
A travel information service with general information on many countries.

NationMaster.com.
Provides country and regional graphs and descriptive statistics based on geography, military, economy, crime, education, and transportation.  Based on numerical data from the World Factbook.

OFFSTATS.  University of Auckland.
Links to many country web sites for statistics, as well as organizational data (United Nations, etc.) and resources by topic.  Economic and general data from official sources on the web.

Political Database of the Americas.  Georgetown University.
Reference materials, primary documents, comparative studies and statistical data for countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Political Risk Yearbook. (UST subscription database)
Reports on economic and political conditions in 106 countries.

Portals to the World.  Library of Congress. 
Selective links providing authoritative, in-depth information about the nations and other areas of the world.  Covers business, culture, economy, history, and more for each country.  Includes over 200 countries.

Stat-USA.  (UST subscription database)
Featuring the National Trade Data Bank, a compilation of U.S. import and export statistics and related international trade data taken from government agencies.   Includes series such as Background Notes, Library of Congress Country Studies (Area Handbooks), Market Research Reports, the World Factbook, and more.

vTuner. 
A collection of television and radio broadcasts from around the world.

World Bank Countries & Regions. 
Includes country profiles, statistics, and general reports.

Yahoo Countries.
A variety of international resources.

See also International Economics. 

Research consultations

Professional reference service is available at both the St. Paul and Minneapolis campus libraries. If you are interested in a research consultation, contact:

Ryan Carter, Minneapolis, (651) 962-4646, cart1589@stthomas.edu
Marianne Hageman, St. Paul, (651) 962-5404, mdhageman@stthomas.edu
Eric Kallas, St. Paul, (651) 962-5013, epkallas@stthomas.edu
Andrea Koeppe, Minneapolis, (651) 962-4647, arhudson@stthomas.edu
Janice Kragness, Minneapolis, (651) 962-4645, jlkragness@stthomas.edu

Updated September 2008 mdh