The World Factbook

The World Factbook, one of the United States’ most popular public domain Internet resources from the Central Intelligence (CIA) Library, provides a centralized location for free, up-to-date country profiles, maps, photos, rankings, international country organizations, and related information about the world that may prove challenging to locate by other channels. It is an authoritative resource, because the information is compiled from various United States federal agencies and sources. Although The World Factbook was designed for government officials and policymakers, it is an easily searchable reference that can be used by laypersons worldwide. Besides the addition of new indicators justified by rapidly changing world conditions and based on feedback from users interested in particular types of data, other new features include Country Comparison rankings and more hyperlinked information than in previous versions. The hyperlinks are especially valuable when cross-referencing rankings and country profiles. The variety of categories covered and the extensive cross-referencing, combine to make the CIA World Factbook comprehensive in scope and a valuable tool in country studies research. No other free or fee-based product is comparable in content and access.