The Lubin Files

Popular Science placed FAOSTAT amongst its 10 most amazing databases.

Popular Science tells why it believes that FAOSTAT is one of the most amazing databases. Click here to discover why FAOSTAT deserves this acclaim and to see the nine other databases that share this honor.

IMF International Financial Statistics

Are you a frequent user of the IMF International Financial Statistics database?

If so, you may have noticed that the interface has changed.  You'll also have to update your bookmarks with this address: http://elibrary-data.imf.org/

Frankly, we haven't got a lot of positive response from users who were familiar with the old interface, but unfortunately, the changes are non-negotiable.  The IMF has provided us with this quick reference sheet for access instructions.

Any complaints about the new interface can be sent to: statisticsquery@imf.org

Food Security Statistics

I recently found this page, which is a great source of food security statistics (compiled from the FAO publication, "State of Food Insecurity").

Data is presented in the form of Excel spreadsheets.

World Bank data for free!

Great news!  The World Bank has just announced free access to databases that were previously only available by subscription.

Databases such as World Development Indicators, Global Development Finance, and Africa Development Indicators, plus many more-- are now freely available to anyone with an internet connection.

Read more about this initiative here...

Agrometeorological data

We recently had a question from a researcher who was trying to locate agrometeorolotical data regarding temperature, rainfall, etc., aggregated by country.

We referred the patron to the CLIMWAT database (which must be used in conjunction with CROPWAT software).  This data is compiled by the Agrometeorology unit at FAO.

We also discovered that some climate and rainfall data is included in the AQUASTAT database.

IMF Balance of Payments database

One of the library's statistical resources on economics is the Balance of Payments database from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

From the IMF's description:

Balance of Payments Statistics summarizes, for a specific period, the economic transactions of an economy with the rest of the world. It reports total goods, services, factor income, and current transfers an economy receives from or provides to the rest of the world as well as capital transfers and changes in each economy's external financial claims and liabilities.

The BOP database contains time series data from 1948. The Web interface allows subscribers to browse the database, select series of interest, display the selected series in a spreadsheet format, and save the selected series for transfer to other software systems such as Microsoft Excel^®.

Related previous Lubin Files post:

International Financial Statistics database (IMF)

Rare statistical data from North Korea

The Wall Street Journal recently published a summary of population census findings from North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK.  The census was taken in 2008 with participation from the United Nations Population Fund.

Some notable findings include:

•  infant mortality has risen since the 1993 census, from 14.1 to 19.3 per 1,000 births
•  life expectancy has dropped since 1993, from 72.7 to 69.3
•  farming is the occupation that employs the most people
•  farming employs 1.9 million women and 1.5 million men

The full report of the census is available here.

Economic statistics on the DPRK are listed here by North Korea Economy Watch.

OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2009-2018

This publication covers commodity markets during the 2009 to 2018 period. It provides an assessment of agricultural market prospects for production, consumption, trade, stocks and prices of the included commodities.

This OECD publication is available to FAO staff members via OLISNET:

Part 1.

Part 2.

International Financial Statistics database (IMF)

In response to many requests, the library has obtained a subscription to the IMF's International Financial Statistics database.

This database-- that contains time series data back to 1948-- is a standard source of international statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. It reports, for most countries of the world, current data needed in the analysis of problems of international payments and of inflation and deflation, i.e., data on exchange rates, international liquidity, international banking, money and banking, interest rates, prices, production, international transactions, government accounts, and national accounts.

OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2009-2018

The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2009-2018 was released on June 17, 2009.

The report reveals that:

World reference prices for many commodities nearly doubled over the period 2007-2008 but fell sharply from their record highs, driven by increased production, responding to earlier price rises, and by weaker demand, intensified by the commencement of the global economic crisis.

However, prices are expected to strengthen with economic recovery over the medium term. For the next 10 years, prices in real terms are still projected at, or above, the levels of the decade prior to the 2007-08 peaks.

Agricultural Outlook can be downloaded here:

Part I
Part II
Part II Statistical Annex 

(FAO Staff only.  Staff without password, contact fao-library-reference@fao.org)