Inter-Governmental Data Resources



International Monetary Fund

International Financial Statistics
Monthly data on exchange rates, international liquidity, international banking, money and banking, interest rates, prices, production, international transactions, government accounts, and national accounts.

Direction of Trade Statistics
Annual, monthly and quarterly data on the value of merchandise imports and exports for over 156 countries. Also includes trade flow data for the world and specific areas.

Government Finance Statistics
Data on central government revenue, expenditure, grants, financing and debts. Includes some financial data on state and local governments.

Balance of Payment Statistics
Data on the balance of payments among countries and geographical areas of the world. Includes data on assets, liabilities, current accounts, income, investments and more for approximately 170 countries.

The above resources are also available in print in the Harvard Libraries. Please check the HOLLIS catalog for call number information.

Global Financial Stability Report
Assesses global financial markets and provides information on emerging markets.

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International Labour Office

Key Indicators of the Labour Market
A collection of information from several major international statistical sources which contains information relevant to labour force participation, employment, unemployment, educational attainment, wages and compensation cost, productivity and labour cost, as well as poverty and income distribution.

Laborsta
Information for over 200 countries on employment, unemployment, hours of work, wages, consumer price indices and more. There is information on certain variables from 1969-2007 and employment projections through 2020.

Yearbook of Labour Statistics
Contains data relating to the international labor market, including employment, unemployment, wages, hours worked, etc.

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OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)

Measuring Globalisation: The Role of Multinationals in OECD Economies (HOLLIS E-Resource)
Data indicative of the industrial activity of multinational firms under foreign control in Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Focuses particularly on the areas of production, employment, international trade and research from 1983 to 2002. Previously published as "Activities of Foreign Affiliates in OECD Countries."
This resource is also available in print.

SourceOECD (HOLLIS E-Resource)
There are over 25 databases available in this resource. Databases include Education, Globalisation, Indicators of Industry and Services, International Migration, Main Economic Indicators, National Accounts, Revenue, and Social Expenditure. Most databases contain time series data from 1980-present. A few databases have data from 1960-present.

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United Nations

United Nations Common Database (UNCD) (HOLLIS E-Resource)
This United Nations Statistical Office database provides access to hundreds of statistical series for all countries and areas of the world. The series can be accessed alphabetically, by source (i.e. the originating international organization), or by topics. The topics include balance of payments, financial statistics, income, consumption and wealth, and national accounts.

Statistical Yearbook (United Nations)
Complete contents of the forty-eighth issue of the Statistical Yearbook (with data through 2000) in both database and book format.

FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) (HOLLIS E-Resource)
On-line and multilingual database containing over 1 million time-series records covering international statistics in the areas of Production, Trade, Food Balance Sheets, Food Aid Shipments, Fertilizers and Pesticides, Land Use and Irrigation, Forest Products, Fishery Products, Population, Agriculture Machinery and Agriculture Production. Chronological coverage extends from 1961 to the present and offers some projections.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
The UNDP produces many data related reports and some are available on the website including the Human Development Reports and Democratic Dialogues in Latin America and the Caribbean. Other UNDP publications available throughout the Harvard library system include the Arab Human Development Report and the China Human Development Report. To find more UNDP publications, search HOLLIS.

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
Provides access to major publications including Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean, Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy and Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
While UNCTAD mainly focuses on trade and development, they also provide a wealth of information relating to country finance, technology, investment and sustainable development. There are many UNCTAD databases available throughout the Harvard library system (in CD-ROM format), as well as on the UNCTAD website.

Millenium Indicators Database
Provides data relating to the eight goals developed by the United Nations Secretariat and IMF, OECD and the World Bank to combat universal problems (hunger, education, gender inequality, child mortality, maternal health, environmental sustainability, AIDS/HIV and other diseases, and partnerships for development). There are over 40 variables available with most data ranging from 1990-present.

National Accounts Main Aggregates Database
National accounts data for over 200 countries from 1970-present. Over 20 national accounts variables with data available in %, US dollars and national currency. Downloadable to .csv format that can be opened with MS Excel.

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World Bank

Global Development Finance (GDF Online) (HOLLIS E-Resource)
Formerly World Debt Tables. Contains 218 time-series indicators (country and summary tables), for the years 1970 onward.

World Development Indicators (WDI Online) (HOLLIS E-Resource)
WDI (World Development Indicators) Online contains statistical data from the World Bank for almost 600 development indicators and time series data from 1960 for over 200 countries and 18 country groups. Data includes social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators. Results can be scaled, indexed against a particular year, viewed by percentage change, and charted. Data can be exported in Excel.

World Development Report
These thematic reports are published annually. Recent topics have included sustainable development, poverty and health.

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Page Last Reviewed: June 25, 2008