GEOG 594A
Culminating Experiences in Geospatial Intelligence

International Data Sources

General Country Information

The CIA World Factbook is an online almanac of country information provided by the Central Intelligence Agency. It is the primary resource used for locating general country information. Each entry contains information on the Geography, People, Government, Economy, Communications, Transportation, Military, and Transnational Issues for all of the countries in the world. The CIA Factbook is also a rich resource for reference maps of the world available for free download in pdf format.

The United States Census Bureau also provides access to valuable international population data via their International Database (IDB). Data in this resource goes as far back as 1950, with projections into the future until 2050. It is an interesting tool to use when trying to get a sense of what is happening in any given country as far as population numbers are concerned.

  1. To get to the IDB, point your browser to The U.S. Census Bureau 
  2. Under People & Households, click on International.
  3. From the next page, click on the International Database.

From here, you will do a little study of population growth in countries. First, we will look at country rankings.

  1. Click on the Country Rankings link.
  2. Look at the top 10 countries in 1950 and projections for 2050.
  3. Describe the differences you see between the two rankings.

Next, we are going to look at fertility rates for the countries found in the rankings

  1. Go back to the IDB main page.
  2. Click on Tables link.
  3. Compare the Growth Rates of Germany and Ethiopia.
  4. What insight does this give you regarding the top ten rankings from the previous activity?

To view this population data in a more interesting format, click on the Country Summary link on the main IDB page.

  1. Using the same two countries from above, choose one from the drop-down menu and click Go.
  2. Scroll down to the population pyramids section.
  3. Under type of output, choose dynamic and click the go button.
  4. This will bring you to a dynamic population pyramid that illustrates population change.
  5. Go back and repeat for the other country.

These sites are by no means all there is available to you online. These are just a small sample of the places you can find information that will help you build a solid intelligence case using open source information. There are hundreds of other sites with very valuable data available at no cost. You are encouraged to continue searching and mastering the different methods provided on each site to extract data.