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Government Publications: Foreign Countries

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Foreign Countries

Foreign Governments — This page is maintained by the Government Information, Maps and Data section of Northwestern University Library.

BBC Country Profiles — Profiles of countries and territories, including history, politics and economic background.

CIA World Factbook — CIA-produced descriptive profiles of countries, territories and dependencies, including flags of the world and regional maps. The Central Intelligence Agency also now offers the Factbook in compressed file (.zip) format so that the entire document or sections of it can be downloaded to a local computer. The downloads page offers detailed instructions and links to further download pages for past factbooks from 2000 to the present.

Country Statistical Yearbooks — "provides links to country statistical yearbooks or similar collections (census, "facts and figures," etc.) for 148 countries worldwide."

Country Studies — from the site: “The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world.” Many of the studies are dated, but the historical information is still useful.

Diplomatic List -- is a current list of diplomatic staff of bilateral missions and delegations in the United States. This publication is part of a small collection of resources for foreign embassies. The State Department site itself includes a link to pages that cover countries and areas of the world.

Foreign Aid Explorer — provides historical data on all loans and grants from the US government to the rest of the world. Covers from the Post-World War II era to the present. Data can be viewed online, or downloaded as either a comma-delimited (.csv) or open XML (XSLX) file. This site includes the annually updated publication U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants, historically known as the "Greenbook" which covers the period 1945 to the present.

Foreign Relations of the United States—electronic facsimile — hosts older historic volumes of this series, or visit the official State Department site for more recent ones.

Global Legal Monitor — from the Law Library of Congress, is a publication which covers legal developments around the world. GLM is "updated frequently and draws on information from official national legal publications and reliable press sources."

International section of the U.S. Energy Information Admistration — provides information on energy consumption, production and reserves, carbon emissions and economic and demographic indicators for countries and regions. Background and analysis is also given.

Country Statistical Yearbooks -- "provides links to country statistical yearbooks or similar collections (census, "facts and figures," etc.) for 154 countries worldwide."

Nations of the World (Nations and Associated Jurisdictions) — provides links to information about constitutions, branches of government, legal guides and general information for countries. This page is maintained by the Law Library of Congress.

Statistics Canada — provides statistics on subjects such as agriculture, environment, health, justice, labor, population and more.

Treaties in Force — Current State Department listing of bilateral and multilateral treaties, and other international agreements of the United States.

Treaties Page — US treaty information and current status, from Congress.gov. The treaty collection here goes back to the 81st Congress (1949-50).

Treaty Affairs — from the US State Department, current information.

United Nations Treaty Collection -- all treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations are hosted here. Includes the UN Treaty Series as well as its forerunner, the League of Nations Treaty Series.

USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse — this database contains more than 30,000 reports from the Agency for International Development. Reports detail agency efforts to assist national and local governments in foreign countries, in areas of development such as infrastructure, education and health.

United States Trade Representative — This is the agency which represents the US government in trade disputes and negotiations. This site includes a reports and publications section that includes news releases and reports, such as their annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers.

USEmbassy.gov — Formerly Websites of U.S. Embassies and Consulates, consists of links to overseas embassies and consulates for each country, listed by region. Each embassy/consulate page includes highlights of US relations with that country, and often will include links to reports such as Country Reports on Human Rights Practices or the International Religious Freedom Report.