General Information on Foreign Countries

• Background Notes by Country from the U.S. Department of State.
• Britain. Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Countries and Regions provides background information on countries of the world, international and European issues, and British foreign policy positions on various topics.
• CIA World Factbook The 1990-1994 editions are also available via GPO.
• Country Profiles from the Economist Intelligence Unit Include "articles from The Economist, background profiles, forecast and statistics from The Economist Intelligence Unit, market and currency updates, news headlines and links." Some information is fee-based.
• Country Studies from Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. Browsable by chapter and searchable.
• Country Watch.com provides free and fee-based information about countries of the world. The free information includes profiles of the people and history of a country, its economy, agriculture, energy, metals and environmental issues. Includes links to currency converters, news stories, and current weather.
• CyberSchoolBus (UN) includes a number of pages about special topics. Includes:
  • Country at a Glance Includes flag, latitude & longitude, total area, total population, population density, capital city, languages, largest city (and its population),currency, & UN membership date.
  • InfoNation database from the United Nations includes 36 social, economic and environmental data series for all UN member states. The user can select up to seven countries for comparison. The database is also available in French and Spanish .
• Government Publications - Foreign, the Center for Research Libraries the Center for Research Libraries has a collection of 140,000+ titles in over 300,000 bibliographic volumes of the publications of more than 100 foreign governments and their agencies. It is particularly strong in European statistical publication collection.
• ELDIS "Eldis is a gateway to online information on development in countries of the South. Coverage includes social, economic, political and environmental issues. Eldis makes a qualitative selection of materials and structures it for easy access." The Country Profiles include reports by sector (Agriculture, Environment, etc.) links to maps, statistics, and reports from intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, United Nations Industrial Development Fund, World Trade Organization, and Amnesty International.
• Ethnologue Database provides information about languages spoken by country.
• Foreign Information by Country University of Colorado, Government Publications Library web site providing links to country information.
• International Data Base includes brief summary information by country and a large, downloadable database of demographic, economic, and social indicators.
• Portals to the World--links to country information provided by the Library of Congress. May include links on any or all of the following topics: General Resources; Business; Commerce; Economy; Culture; Education; Embassies; Genealogy; Geography and Environment; Government, Politics and Law; Health; History; Language, Literature; Libraries, Archives; Listservs, Newsgroups; Media and Communications; Organizations; Recreation and Travel; Religion and Philosophy; Science and Technology; Search Engines; and Society. As of 27 November 2001, the site includes information on 49 countries.
• UNESCO PhotoBank "offers full access online to its collection of photographs and slides covering a wide range of subjects related to the Organization's fields of competence: education, science, culture and communication."
• UNICEF
  • See Progress of Nations, State of the World's Children and other publications from UNICEF that look at Health, Nutrition, Education, Family planning, Child rights, Progress for women, Aid, National performance gaps & statistical profiles on an international level.
• World Bank Development Data contains country specific data and comparative figures on selected topics.
• World World: an icon-based index containing hundreds of links to the world and beyond. Begin by clicking on the "Planet Earth" icon. Countries are neatly organized by miniature national flag. Pages include links to government and embassy websites.