The World Factbook, published by the Central Intelligence Agency, provides a wealth of information about every country in the world including information on geography, people, military, government, communication, transnational issues, and statistics for transportation. Each one of these headings includes subheadings providing the most in-depth information on every country in the world. The Factbook is published once a year and updated online every two weeks. The CIA uses three types of finished intelligence including basic, current, and estimative. Basic is purely fact based information like statistics, current is the information based on new developments, and estimative is concluding a potential outcome. The development of the Factbook is a result of the CIA’s need for basic intelligence about other countries.
The information provided in the Factbook is mostly statistical information covering various topics including the number of cell phones in use, language, death rate, infant mortality, and the percentage of manpower available for military service, to name a few. The World Factbook also contains maps and flags of the world describing each country’s flag and what it represents. Multiple appendices are available providing information on abbreviations, international organizations, international environmental agreements, and weights and measures. Topics like country data codes, hydrographic data, and geographic names are also cross-referenced in the appendix.
Use this link below to begin your research or to just poke around. Written by Brooke Jennings, Law Librarian Fellow
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