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United Nations: Statistics

Guide to information created by the UN and the UN Family of Organizations

Introduction

The United Nations consolidates and harmonizes statistics from governments around the world.  Some of these are listed below as well as selected statistics from UN affiliated organizations and  agencies. Commercial databases such as the CEIC Global Database and Data Planet also offer UN data.

United Nations Statistics

UN Data. From the United Nations. Wide range of economic, social, cultural, and demographic indicators: population, environment, health, economics, technology, trade, refugees, and more.

UN Comtrade. Detailed trade data from 130 countries, by commodity, partner country, and mode of transport. Includes commodity and services trade at monthly and annual frequencies. Register using your UC Berkeley email to access the Premium version, which offers a more powerful search interface and bulk downloads

FAOSTAT. Extensive data on agriculture, food supply, food security, prices, commodities, forest products, and fisheries from the FAO.

Food Aid Information System (FAIS).  Comprehensive data on food aid flows from the World Food Programme.

Global Health Observatory.  Repository for Global Health data from the World Health Organization (WHO).  The Global Health infobase is best for international comparisons. 

Millennium Indicators Database. Database of indicators measuring progress towards the Millennium Development goals, adopted by the United Nations Secretariat, IMF, OECD and World Bank.

Human Development Report Statistics. Statistics from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Links to the text of national human development reports from over 250 countries and regions.

ILOSTAT. International labor statistics from 1979 to the present on employment, earnings, wages, migration, strikes and more.

International Migrant Stock. (Key resource). From the UN Population Division. Estimates of international migrant by age, sex and origin. Estimates are presented for 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2017 and are available for all countries and areas of the world.

UNESCO Institute for Statistics.  Data portal on international statistics for education, science and technology, culture, and communication. 

UNICEF Data Portal. Wide range of data relating to women and children: Education, violence, nutrition, FGM, disability, immunization, child labour and more.

UNICEF Innocenti Research Databases. Several databases addressing child poverty statitics from UNICEF, including the MODA database on child deprivation.

UNCTADStat. Includes a number of numeric databases dealing with trade and development statistics, including the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics.

UNOCHA Humanitarian Aid Contributions.  Financial Tracking Service.

UN Refugees Statistics and Data. Statistics and data on asylum seekers, displaced persons, and persons of concern, and UN operations in the field.  The UNHCR Popstats database presents tabular data in these areas. The Resettlement Data Portal has refugees by country of origin and desitination.

United Nations Service Trade. Resident to non-resident trade in services broken down by EBOPS category and partner country annually. Part of UN Comtrade

UNIDO Statistics Data Portal. International statistical data on industries and mining from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. (United Nations Industrial Development Organization International Industrial and Mining Statistics).

Urban Open Data. United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNCHS) collection of databases, with statistical data on urban indicators, human settlements, and city profiles worldwide.

World Income Inequality Database. Information for over 140 countries on income inequalities at both cross-country and time series levels from 1950-98.

World Integrated Trade Solutions. Statistical software integrating trade data from several international organizations: data on trade in merchandise and commercial services at the world and regional level. Register for use with your Berkeley email address.

United Nations Voting

Most UN Resolutions are adopted without a vote. Sometimes a summary (number of yeas and nays) is made while in other cases the resolution is adopted by roll-call which indicates how a country voted.​

UNBIS Voting Records. Voting information from the UN Dag Hammarskjold Library. Data is only available by subject keyword, date and resolution number.

VoteWorld. From the UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies, London School of Economics, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Includes data from the European Parliament and US Congress. 

Votes in the UN General Assembly. UN General Assembly votes from 1946-2012, from Eric Voeten, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University. 

Voting Practices in the United Nations. Published annually by the U.S. Dept. of State. Includes tables on political and geographic groups, as well as major votes by country. For back issues see Library KJ61 .R46. 

Index to Proceedings of the General Assembly. Annual index to the work of the General Assembly. Voting information by resolution is in the back of volume one (subject index).

Index to Proceedings of the Security Council. Annual index to the documents, resolutions of the security council. Voting information (if any) by resolution. 

United Nations Resolutions. Series I, Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly. Doe Ref JX1977.A3155.D57. Multi-volume et of UN General Assembly Resolutions, with voting information, from 1946-1985.

United Nations Resolutions. Series II, Resolutions and decisions of the Security Council. Doe Ref JX1977.A3155.D57 1988. Multi-volume et of UN Security Resolutions, with voting information, from 1946-1979.