Cross-Country Data Resources
These are some of our go-to websites for the data behind cross-country comparisons.
If there are datasets you suspect are open to the Williams community but no longer to you after you've graduated, it doesn't hurt to reach out to a professor or administrator to see if they have ideas on how to help you get access.
If there are any cross-country datasets you think should be up here, let us know by emailing crl2 (at) williams (dot) edu, and we'll put it right up!
Data sources recommended by the Williams College Economics Department
(taken directly from the Department website)
- OWID brings together a medley of resources on a variety of topics. Directly on the web site, you can see line graphs, scatter plots, maps, and other visualizations of the data.
- Data underlying all graphs is available for download
- Version 9.1 is "a database with information on relative levels of income, output, input and productivity, covering 182 countries between 1950 and 2017."
- Available in Excel and Stata format, as well as through online visualizations
The World Development Indicators (WDI)
- Includes annual data on 217 economies from 1960 to 2019
The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC)
- The OEC brings together trade data for much of the world and many trade products
- Includes imports and exports
- Also has visualizations like graphs, charts, and maps, from which you can download the underlying data
- Much of the data are from the UN Comtrade database
UNESCO Data on Education and the Sustainable Development Goals
- Includes cross-country data on the broad themes of:
- Education
- SDG 4 (Sustainable Development Goals 4)
- Science, Technology, and Innovation
- Culture
- Communication and Information
- Demographic and Socio-Economic
- Data user guide here
- Data Dictionary here