Sources & Methodology
Last updated: June 26, 2026
Data Sources
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Population Division • Demographic Data
The demographic data (population, fertility, mortality, migration) is sourced from the UN World Population Prospects 2024, the authoritative source for global population estimates and projections. This dataset provides comprehensive demographic indicators for all UN member states and other territories from 1950 to 2100.
Visit UN Population DivisionLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
World Economic Outlook • Economic Data
The economic data is sourced from the IMF World Economic Outlook Database (April 2026). This includes GDP, inflation, unemployment, government finances, and external balances for IMF member countries from 1980 to 2031 (including IMF staff projections for future years).
Visit IMF World Economic OutlookLicense: IMF Terms of Use
If you download or share IMF data from this site (CSV, PDF, or PNG exports), the IMF Copyright and Usage Terms continue to apply. Attribution must remain intact and the data must not be altered in ways that affect its accuracy.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
SDG 4 Education Indicators • Education Data
The education data is sourced from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics SDG 4 Education Database. This includes literacy rates, school enrollment, completion rates, teacher quality metrics, educational attainment, and government spending on education for countries worldwide from 1970 to 2025.
Visit UNESCO Institute for StatisticsLicense: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
If you download or share UNESCO data from this site (CSV, PDF, or PNG exports), the ShareAlike clause applies: any adaptations or redistributions must remain available under CC BY-SA 4.0 with attribution to UNESCO Institute for Statistics intact.
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
International Energy Data • Energy Statistics
The energy data is sourced from the EIA International Energy Statistics bulk export. This includes CO2 emissions, energy consumption, electricity generation, petroleum, natural gas, coal, hydroelectricity, solar, wind, and nuclear power data for countries worldwide from 1950 to 2024.
Visit EIA International Energy DataLicense: U.S. Government Work (public domain)
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Population Division • City Data
The city data (population, area, density) is sourced from the UN World Urbanization Prospects 2025, using the Degree of Urbanisation (DEGURBA) city definition. This dataset covers 16,828 cities across 194 countries with data from 1975 to 2050, including historical estimates and projections.
Visit UN World Urbanization ProspectsLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Mineral Commodity Summaries • Mineral Production & Reserves
Critical-mineral mine production and reserves are sourced from the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries (production 1994–2025 scraped from the annual MCS PDFs and machine-readable data releases; reserves are the 2025 snapshot). Figures here are a derived, re-tabulated dataset and are not endorsed by USGS. 2025 production and all reserve figures are USGS estimates.
Visit USGS Mineral Commodity SummariesLicense: U.S. public domain (commercial use permitted with credit to USGS)
Data Categories
The data is organized into nine main categories, each containing multiple indicators:
Population
Total population, population growth rate, population density, sex ratio, median age, and demographic structure breakdowns by age and gender.
Age Structure
Population broken down by age group and gender, from children to the elderly.
Fertility
Total fertility rate, crude birth rate, births by maternal age group, net reproduction rate, and mean age at childbearing.
Mortality
Life expectancy at birth and various ages, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality, crude death rate, and age-specific mortality probabilities.
Migration
Net migration rate, net number of migrants, and international migration flows.
Economy
GDP (nominal and PPP), GDP per capita, GDP growth rate, inflation rate, unemployment rate, government debt, revenue, expenditure, fiscal balance, and current account balance.
Education
Literacy rates (adult, youth, elderly), school enrollment and completion rates, out-of-school rates, educational attainment levels, pupil-teacher ratios, teacher qualifications, and government education spending as percentage of GDP and government budget.
Energy
CO2 emissions, energy consumption per capita and per GDP, electricity generation and consumption, petroleum and natural gas production and consumption, coal production, hydroelectricity, solar, wind, and nuclear power generation and installed capacity.
Resources
Fossil-fuel reserves from the EIA: proved reserves of crude oil and dry natural gas, and recoverable reserves of coal. Oil and gas figures are an archived 2021 snapshot; coal reserves are updated through 2023. Critical-mineral mine production (1994–2025) and 2025 reserves for 13 commodities — including lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, rare earths, and graphite — come from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries.
Data Coverage
Demographic Data (UN)
Economic Data (IMF)
Education Data (UNESCO)
Energy Data (EIA)
Fossil Reserves (EIA)
Minerals (USGS)
Note: Data availability varies by country and indicator. Some territories may have limited data for certain years or metrics. Economic data coverage is typically more limited for smaller territories.
Methodology
Data Processing
The raw data is processed to ensure consistency and accuracy. This includes standardizing country names and codes (ISO 3166), validating data ranges, and computing derived metrics where applicable.
Data Provenance
All statistics are sourced directly from primary institutional datasets — not from third-party aggregators. Demographic indicators come from the UN World Population Prospects 2024 Revision, economic data from the IMF WEO April 2026 release, education data from the UNESCO UIS bulk export, and energy data from the EIA international bulk download. No interpolation or gap-filling is applied: if a value is missing from the original source, it remains absent on this site. This means some countries will have incomplete time series, but the data shown is always traceable to the publishing institution.
Trend Calculations
Year-over-year (YoY) and 5-year trends are calculated as percentage changes between comparable periods. These help identify demographic shifts and patterns over time.
Regional Groupings
Countries are organized according to the UN M49 Standard for geographic regions. This includes 6 continental regions and their subregions.
Aggregate Statistics
Regional and global aggregates use methods appropriate to each metric type. Absolute counts (population, births, deaths) are summed. Rates, ratios, and percentages (life expectancy, fertility rate, literacy rate, etc.) use population-weighted averages — meaning each country's value is weighted by its population size. This ensures that large countries like China or India have proportional influence on global and regional averages, matching the methodology used by the UN and other international statistical bodies.
Limitations & Disclaimers
Estimates vs. Counts: Much of the demographic data represents statistical estimates rather than exact counts. The UN uses sophisticated demographic models and available census/survey data to produce these estimates.
Projections:Future data (2025–2100) represents medium-variant projections based on assumed trends in fertility, mortality, and migration. Actual outcomes may differ significantly.
Data Gaps: Some countries have limited vital registration systems, leading to greater uncertainty in their demographic estimates.
Not Official Statistics: This portal is for informational and educational purposes. For official statistics, please consult the original UN data sources or national statistical offices.
Update Frequency
Demographic data: Updated when new UN World Population Prospects revisions are released, typically every two years. Current data is based on the 2024 Revision.
Economic data: Updated when new IMF World Economic Outlook releases are available, typically twice per year (April and October). Current data is based on the April 2026 release.
Education data: Updated when new UNESCO Institute for Statistics releases are available. UIS refreshes the SDG 4 Education Database periodically as countries report new figures.
Energy data: Updated when new EIA International Energy Statistics releases are available. EIA updates their international data periodically as countries report new figures.
Resources data: Fossil-fuel reserves come from the EIA (see above); critical-mineral production and reserves are refreshed when the USGS publishes its annual Mineral Commodity Summaries, typically in the first quarter of each year.
Bug fixes and improvements happen whenever I can find the time.