Research Guides: Economics Research Guide: Major Sources of Data

Major Sources of Data & Statistics

Library Databases

U.S. Data & Statistics

Census Bureau Homepage
Data.gov
Site for the US Government's open data. Houses federal, state and local government data and documents.
Google Dataset Search (Beta)
Dataset Search enables users to find datasets stored across thousands of repositories on the Web. Dataset Search is currently in Beta, with the greatest coverage in environmental and social sciences, as well as government data.
National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS)
Hosted by the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota

International Data & Statistics

CIA World Factbook
The Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.
European Union Eurostat
Statistics on a wide-variety of topics for countries in the European Union.
Gapminder
Compilation of data from other sources, displayable through an interactive, visual interface.
ICPSR
"Data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts 21 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields."
IPUMS
Provides census and survey data from the US and internationally and around topics such as the Current Population Survey, global health, US Census & GIS mapping, population and the environment, time use, health, and higher ed.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Data for countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as a selection of other developed countries
U.S. Census Bureau: International Data Base (IDB)
A database of demographic and socio-economic information for countries and areas of the world.
United Nation Human Development Report
Each year the Human Development Report (HDR) presents a wealth of statistical information on different aspects of human development.
United Nations Statistical Division
Gateway to the statistical products and services of the U.N.
World Bank
Select the Data and Research tab for detailed, country-specific statistical information.
World Bank Open Data
The World Bank's Open Data initiative is intended to provide all users with access to World Bank data. The data catalog is a listing of available World Bank datasets, including databases, pre-formatted tables, reports, and other resources.

Minnesota

Center for Rural Policy & Economic Development
Interactive online maps providing social and economic data for counties in Minnesota. Data includes agriculture, population, housing, income, health, education, transportation, public safety, natural resources, civic engagement, and more.
Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development
Provides data on employment, wages, job growth and more, as well as key economic comparisons between Minnesota and other states.
Minnesota Department of Health
Health data and statistics for the state.
Minnesota Department of Public Safety
Criminal and juvenile justice information for state of Minnesota.
Minnesota Open Data
Minnesota Quick Facts
From the U.S. Census Bureau.
Minnesota State Demographic Center

Evaluating Websites

Things to Consider:

Authorship (who is responsible for the information)
Accuracy (how accurate)
Currency (how current)
Publishing Body (consider URL such as .com, .org, etc)
Point of View (the bias)
Appropriateness (how will this affect your research)