Professor & Reference and Instruction Librarian Coordinator
St. Mary's University
One Camino Santa Maria
San Antonio, TX 78228-8608
USA
dduesterhoeft@stmarytx.edu
UNdata
UNdata provides official statistics by countries that are compiled and arranged by the United Nations, including estimates and projections. Topic include agriculture, crime, education, energy, industry, labour, national accounts, population, and tourism. UNdata also includes indicators for sources like the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Also includes data from affiliated organizations and agencies like the FAO, ILO, IMF, World Bank, etc.
This box provides links to the various tools that will help you better understand UNdata.
- UNdataMain portal page to the United Nations data. Searchable by keyword. Links to popular tables. Also countrie and regions.
- UNdata: Advanced SearchAdvanced search to the UNdata portal that allow users to search by keyword, select statistical areas, sources, and years.
- UNdata: ExplorerUNdata Explorer is the place to look to better understand datasets, sources, and topics included in UNdata. Includes list of tables by dataset and sources of data including partner organizations.
UN Statistical Series
UNdata is a major portal to United Nations data as well as some data from partner institutions. However, there are other data sources that you will want to search individually to get complete data (like UN Comtrade) or to better understand United Nations data sources. This box lists a few important UN statistical sources.
Comtrade
- UN ComtradeThe UN's Commodity Trade Statistics Database offers detailed imports and exports statistics reported by statistical authorities of close to 200 countries or areas. It includes annual trade statistics from 1962 to the most recent year.
- UN Comtrade User GuideUser guide for the UN Comtrade database.
- UN Comtrade Reference TablesTrade flow codes, quantity units, harmonized commodity vs SITC vs BEC correspondence tables, etc.
Featured Publications
- Monthly Bulletin of Statistics"Current economic and social statistics for more than 200 countries and territories. Contains 55 tables, comprising over 100 indicators, of monthly, quarterly and annual data on a variety of subjects"
- UN Demographic Yearbook1948-present. Data collected on demographic and social statistics, by questionnaires, to national statistical offices.
- UN International Trade Statistics Yearbook1992-present. Overview of trends of trade in goods and services showing international trade individual commodities (3-digit SITC groups) and for Extended Balance of Payments Services (EBOPS) categories.
- UN Statistical YearbookCurrent issue and link to all past issues back to 1948 (v.1). Provides data as well as the comprehensive description of social, economic and environmental issues.
UN Statistics Guides
Here a few statistical UN resources that provide helpful information about the statistical services available from the United Nations and its related agencies.
- Statistics - Dag Hammarskjöld LibraryList and links to UN statistical resources including data from specialized agencies.
- Statistics Resource Guide - UN Library GenevaDetailed guide to UN statistical sources with links to statistics by region/country, theme, data visualizations, and big data.
- UN Statistics CommissionHighest UN body of the its global statistical system. Oversees the UN Statistics Division. Includes links to data tools like UNdata, Comtrade, and more.