Public Data for International Orgs

Nonprofits that work internationally and who require long-term, wide-scale data on various issues relating to their countries of operation may be interested in checking out the newly released UNdata.org, a Web site that searches a variety of United Nations databases. While the site is still growing, it already offers an impressive amount of statistical information:

You can find official statistics produced by countries and compiled by United Nations data system, as well as estimates and projections. The domains covered are agriculture, education, energy, industry, labour, national accounts, population and tourism. You can also find indicators such as Millennium Development Goals.

Along with the CIA Factbook, which provides in-depth articles on a variety of subjects, from demographics of countries to geography, and the Google Books Library Project to put the content of libraries around the world online, sharing once privately-held data publicly is starting to gain popularity, offering more opportunities to nonprofits working both in the United States and abroad.