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Basic & Background Sources for International & Foreign Legal Research: Directories & Basic Country Info

Directories & Background Information

These sources provide basic country information (population, government, politics, economics) and some country data.  

CIA World Factbook.

CQ Political Handbook of the World (UCB only)
​Coverage of political controversies.

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Country Reports and Profiles (UCB only)
In-depth analysis of current economic and political events in more than 200 countries.

Country Studies (Library of Congress)
The books in the series provide a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of select countries throughout the world. Some are quite dated.

Our World in Data
Open access and open source.

ProQuest Statistical Abstracts of the World (UCB only)
An authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of over 40 countries.

Statista (UCB only)
Data from reliable sources for many topics and countries.

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