Government Documents

Links to Information About Foreign Countries

The World Factbook 
Published each year by the Central Intelligence Agency, this publication provides geographic information on the countries of the world. Each country profile tracks such demographics as population, ethnicity and literacy rates, as well as political, geographical and economic data. This is a highly used source. The Olson Library keeps only the most recent hardcopy, G122 .U56a. Older copies can be found here.

Constitute
Links to constitutions, charters, amendments, and other related documents of countries around the world. Can be filtered by topic within constitutions.

Country Studies
This website, from the Library of Congress, contains the on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. Because the original intent of the Series' sponsor was to focus primarily on lesser known areas of the world or regions in which U.S. forces might be deployed, the series is not all-inclusive. Notable omissions include Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and other Western nations, as well as a number of African nations.

Post Reports from the State Department (last updated in 2005) 
Originally intended for State Department employees stationed overseas, these Post Reports are a summary of a country’s culture, geography, services, etc. (in other words, what to expect if you live there), in many cases supplementing and enhancing such things as State Department Country Reports, Library of Congress Country Studies, and the CIA World Factbook. A current equivalent is their Overseas Briefing Center.

USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse
USAID's Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) is the largest online resource for USAID funded technical and program documentation, with over 104,000 documents available for electronic download. Search USAID's online database of agency-funded technical and program-related documents to download USAID documents in PDF format for free. Includes statistics, and covers topics such as health, the environment, and economics.

Security Assistance Monitor
U.S. security and defense assistance programs worldwide (arms sales, military, and police aid and training programs) are compiled and are searchable via a database from 2000 to the present.

Global Gateway
From the Library of Congress. These web resources have been selected by Area Specialists and other Library of Congress staff using Library of Congress selection criteria. These resources cover a wide range of topics including culture, media, health, history, language, literature, etc.

Eldis Country Studies 
Hosted by the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, Eldis aims to "disseminate qualitative, evidence-based research and policy documents." Country information includes agriculture, economics, education, trade, statistics, organizations, and development sectors.  Emphasis is on countries in the southern hemisphere: Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 
"For more than 40 years, OECD has been one of the world's largest and most reliable sources of comparable statistics and economic and social data. As well as collecting data, OECD monitors trends, analyses and forecasts economic developments and researches social changes or evolving patterns in trade, environment, agriculture, technology, taxation and more." 

U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets (formerly Background Notes)
From the U.S. Department of State. The format of these publications changed greatly in May, 2012. Now called "Fact Sheets", these focus more on U.S. relations with the particular country. Older editions (archived at the website) covered more social, cultural, and economic aspects of the country.

Country Profiles from the BBC
These "provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions." Pull-down menus of country or territory by continent. Also includes international organizations.

International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 190 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

GlobalEdge
Country information, with an international business angle, from MSU.

International travel information (current warnings/alerts or notices, general information) can be found at the State Department's page on international travel. The Center for Disease Control has a webpage on traveler's health. The Canadian Government is also another resource for warnings and advice.

Miscellaneous Links

Global Security.org
Global Security is an organization that “seeks to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons and the risk of their use." Their Public Eye section has detailed satellite photos and maps of military bases, sites, and establishments. There are also detailed explanations of military capabilities of other countries.

Flags of the World
"The Internet's largest site dedicated to vexillology". Over 102,000 images of flags of countries, political subdivisions, political groups, regions, places—historical, official, unofficial, etc. An additional flag website is the World Flag Database,

Online Newspapers.com
Link to newspapers throughout the world. You can select country, continent or region. A similar link from Ohio University is International News Outlets. Sure, you can Google on in to something, but maybe you want a specific source from a place?