Data Sets and Resources

Data is critical to the work done by the Center. On this page you will find data compiled by CGD experts, facts and figures of simple charts, graphs, and tables on major development issues and links to other sources of development data.

Data (Excel file, 612 KB) used in "Round Three of the MCA: Which Countries Are Most Likely to Qualify in FY 2006?" by Steve Radelet, Kaysie Brown, and Bilal Siddiqi. The data is also available directly from the MCC's website.

For more data sets, click here

Facts and Figures

Figure 7. Inequality: Measuring More than Money (PDF)

Figure 6. Literacy rates have increased in most of the world over the last generation, but even today about one in every four adults worldwide is unable to read and write (PDF)

Figure 5. Capital flows to where it is already most abundant (PDF)

Figure 4. In recent years, global poverty has begun to decline slowly, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of the world's population (PDF)

Figure 3. Since 1960, most of the world has seen improvements in overall health, but these improvements are not evenly distributed (PDF)

Figure 2. Economic inequality between households is much greater than inequality between national averages (PDF)

Figure 1. Average incomes in some regions have increased rapidly since 1820, but most of the world has remained relatively poor (PDF)

Brief "profiles" are available for the statistics listed below. The profiles include definitions and descriptions, as well as information on how the statistics are estimated.

GDP per capita (PDF)

Life Expectancy at Birth (PDF)

Additional Sources of Data

The World Bank provides access via the World Wide Web to several data series, including its "country at a glance" tables which include "over 85 key indicators tracing trends in social and economic development over the last three decades; from World Bank internal databases."

The World Bank also publishes the World Development Indicators on CD-Rom, which can be purchased from their website.

The United Nations Development Program makes the data from its Human Development Report available online.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization maintains several databases on agriculture, nutrition, and natural resources.

The Penn World Tables is a time series dataset covering some 30 key national level variables. The dataset is prepared in large part by Alan Heston and Robert Summers of the University of Pennsylvania.

Data on volumes and values of bilateral trade between the US and the rest of the world, as well as US tariff rates, are available either from the US International Trade Commission (requires free registration) or the US Census Bureau.

Other clearinghouses for international development data can be found on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research or on Bill Goffe's Resources for Economists site.