A great deal of reliable statistical data has long been available
to the public eye — but it’s often been a challenge for
resource-strapped nonprofit organizations to track down the information
you need for policy development or to support your fundraising appeals with cold hard facts. UNdata has just made that research task a bit easier.
A replacement for the old and unwieldy United Nations Common
Database, the new UNdata website brings together all the major United
Nations databases and those of several international organizations —
including, for example, over 21,000 records from UNICEF on the state of
the world’s children — in a single, searchable, internet environment.
You can access this wealth of statistical data either by browsing the data series or through a keyword search. True, there's almost a baffling array of information available at UNdata,
but keyword search results can be filtered by country and year to
narrow the target. To conserve resources, a maximum of 50,000 records
can be downloaded at any one time.
What kinds of statistics can you find at UNdata? For the most part, these are official statistics produced by various
countries and compiled by the United Nations data system, as well as
estimates and projections. Topics range from agriculture and industry
to employment and education, from energy and the environment to health
and human development, to technology, trade, and tourism. And it's all publicly available online, without cost.
