Country Studies Research Guide

The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.

Numerous reports can be accessed at, or through, this Department’s home page gateway, including: Country Commercial Guides, National Trade Estimates, and Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. See below for some suggested starting points.

Foreign Labor Trends provides information on labor institutions, practices, and key developments, necessary for assessing compliance with the worker rights as required under bilateral or regional trade agreements. Also provides commentary and statistics

Provides access to departmental and embassy reports. Most can be reached from this site; some (such as Background Notes, Country Commercial Guides, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices) are incorporated into USA.gov and the National Trade Data Bank reports.

Contains the electronic versions of 80 books previously published in hard copy as part of the Country Studies Series by the Federal Research Division. Intended for a general audience, books in the series present a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of select countries throughout the world.