Research Guides
International Inter-Governmental & Non-Governmental Organizations: Vital Statistics
Starting Points
Vital statistics: data relating to births, deaths, health and diseases, and marriages
- UNDataSearch and download data from UN statistical databases. Useful features include country profiles, advanced searching, and glossaries. Databases are organized by theme (populations, health, gender, education, etc.).
- UN Demographic YearbookFind statistics on topics like population size and composition, births, deaths, marriage and divorce. Statistics have been collected annually from national statistical authorities since 1948. 1948-present
- WHO: Data and StatisticsAccess to annual statistical publications (World Health Statistics) and databases. Find international, national, and regional data for global public health, chronic and infectious diseases, Data is also accessible by category, including mortality and health status, diseases, risk-factors, and health systems.
- World Development Indicators This link opens in a new windowWDI Online is a comprehensive database on development data covering more than 575 indicators, 225 countries, and 18 regional and income groups. The extensive collection of development data includes population, income, social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators for more than forty years (starting in 1960 where data are available).
Additional Resources
- African Development Indicators"Africa Development Indicators was a primary World Bank collection of development indicators on Africa, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. No further updates of this database are currently planned. See World Development Indicators for more recent data on Africa."
- ProQuest Statistical Insight This link opens in a new windowIndex to governmental and private statistical data.
- WHO: Global Health Observatory"Provides critical data and analysis for key health themes, as well as direct access to the full database. The GHO presents data from all WHO programs and provides links to supporting information."
Print and CD Rom Sources
- Population and Vital Statistics ReportFind data on population size (total, male, female), population estimates and the number and rate (births, deaths, infant deaths). 1949-2012. Also available online.
- Vital Statistics of the United StatesReports present detailed vital statistics data, including natality, mortality, marriage and divorce. 1937-1993, continued in other series. Also available online.
Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Turelio.
Starting Points
- Foreign Information by CountryCreated by the Government Publications Library, U. of Colorado Libraries. Note: Some resources and information are only accessible by U of Colorado students/faculty.
- List of Foreign GovernmentsCreated by Northwestern University Library, Government Publications & Maps. Use this page to locate links to the official websites of national governments.
- Social Issues / Migration / Health -OECDUse the sidebar to navigate through books, papers, databases, and more to access data and tables relating to vital statistics.
- UNICEF Data Warehouse"UNICEF is the world’s leading source of data on children and maintains databases of hundreds of international valid and comparable indicators." Query a wide thematic range of datasets, including data from a variety of countries.