LibGuides: GLS116: International Relations: Finding Country Information

Reference Books

The Statesman's Yearbook 2025 by Palgrave Palgrave Macmillan (Editor)
Call Number: Reference Desk JA51 .S7

ISBN: 9781349961115

The Statesman's Yearbook provides political, cultural, and economic information. Includes information about international organizations as well as country profiles. Country profiles include key statistics and facts, information on historical events, current government & leaders, natural resources, trade, social institutions, and culture. Each profile includes recommended further reading for each country.
Political Handbook of the World 2018-2019 by Tom Lansford (Editor)
Call Number: Reference Desk JF37 .P6 2018/2019 v.1-2

The Political Handbook of the World offers country profiles and information on intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, European Union, World Trade Organization, and more. Each country entry is introduced with basic information about the country but focuses on the government and politics of the country providing detailed information about the government's history, current government, and political parties and groups.
Transformation Index BTI 2018 by Bertelsmann Stiftung (Editor)
Call Number: Stacks JC489 .B47

The Transformation Index reports on political and economic transformation around the world as well as governance. Findings are also reported out by region. This index is published every 2 years. Also available online.

Bentley Databases and Institutional Websites

Europa World
Europa World provides profiles of over 250 countries and territories, including extensive sections on political history, foreign affairs, and economic affairs. Directory information on international and country-specific organizations, including government agencies, is also included.
EIU Viewpoint
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Viewpoint provides political and economic analysis, forecasts, and data. Our subscription includes global and regional coverage as well as country analysis for 50 countries. Special curated themes allow users to browse the latest EIU coverage on those topics. An archive of past EIU reports (beginning with reports published in 1996) is also available.
Euromonitor Passport
Euromonitor Passport provides business intelligence on selected Industries, Countries & Consumers, Companies, and Geographies, and comprehensive tools for analysis across datasets. Each category includes in-depth reports, analyst comments, statistics and external sources. New reports, analyses and comments are added daily, while industry reports are updated annually. Historical and forecasted date coverage varies by country, within a broad range of 1977 to five-year projections. Users will have to fill out a short registration form the first time they access Euromonitor. Faculty & Staff members please list your department under "Course".
Business Source Complete (EBSCO)
Business Source Complete provides coverage in business disciplines including marketing, management, management information systems, production and operations management, accounting, finance and economics. It includes full text for more than 3600 journals, including 1900 peer-reviewed titles. Also included are full-text case studies, company and industry profiles, country reports, executive and analyst interviews, market research reports and SWOT analyses.
World Development Indicators (WDI)
World Development Indicators is a compilation of internationally comparable statistical metrics related to global development and the fight against poverty. The database contains time series indicators for more than 200 countries and over 40 country groups. Data for many indicators spans more than 50 years.
World Factbook
Produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Free resource.
United Nations Data
United Nations Data contains official statistics, estimates and projections produced by countries and compiled by the United Nations. Domains covered are agriculture, crime, education, energy, industry, labor, national accounts, population and tourism. You can also find indicators such as Millennium Development Goals. Free resource.
OECD Country Profiles
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) publishes economic surveys, comparative statistics, regular outlooks and annual overviews for its 34 member countries and some major additional countries. Free resource.

Fitch Solutions Risk Reports
Available through the ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry database, the Fitch Solutions Risk Reports (formerly BMI Risk Reports) provide information on the economic outlook, political outlook and ten year forecasts for countries from around the world. Use the "Search Within" box to search for your country's name.

CountryData Online (CDO, PRS Group)
CountryData Online (CDO, PRS Group) offers political, economic, financial, and social data back to 1984 (in most cases) for over 140 countries. Updated monthly, CDO also includes risk ratings from International Country Risk Guide, as well as forecasts and geographic data from Political Risk Services.