Social Science Data Resources

Data from Gallup's survey of a random sample of residents in more than 150 countries that are home to more than 99% of the world's population.

An ongoing cross-national annual survey program. With four founding members in 1983 including Australia, Germany, Great Britain and US, it has over 40 member countries at present. Access to the complete ISSP data and documentation is free.

PISA evaluates education systems worldwide by testing the reading, mathematical and scientific literacy skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in participating countries. Over 70 countries and regions have participated in PISA since 2000.

A series of worldwide surveys studying the changing values and their impact on social and political life. WVS has carried out national surveys in 97 societies. From 1981 to 2008, five waves of surveys were conducted.

A pan-African series of national public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, and society. Surveys include respondents from up to 37 different countries dating to 1999.

The largest repository of publicly available data on the views of individuals living in the Middle East and North African regions. Public opinion surveys date to 2006.

An applied research program that aims to measure the political, social, and economic atmosphere of countries located in Central Asia.

Public opinion surveys of individuals living in European Union member and candidate countries. Surveys are conducted on behalf of the European Commission and the responsible Directorate-General(s) with particular modules commissioned by the European Parliament. Some surveys date to the mid-1970s.

A collaborative, indigenous initiative which represents a comprehensive effort to measure the current social, political, and economic climate around the world. Public opinion surveys capture a variety of perspectives on policy-relevant issues.

Annual public opinion survey of individuals living in up to 19 Spanish language countries located across the Americas and Europe. Survey data available in English and Spanish and date to 1995.

Umbrella organization for national data archives of European countries. The CESSDA data catalogue includes the metadata of all data held by the organization's service providers.

The Social Science Japan Data Archive (SSJDA) collects, maintains, and provides access to an archive of social science data for secondary analyses. Data and documentation are available in Japanese, with some materials translated into English. Researchers will need to submit an application to access these data.

IFDO provides a curated collection of relevant resources.

The ISSP is a cross-national collaboration program that distributes annual surveys on diverse, social science topics. Since 1984, more than 1 million respondents have participated in surveys. All data and documentation are available free of charge.

IPUMS-International is an effort to inventory, preserve, harmonize, and disseminate census microdata from around the world. The project has collected the world's largest archive of publicly available census samples representing 98 countries. The data are coded and documented consistently across countries and over time to facilitate comparative research. IPUMS-International makes these data available to qualified researchers free of charge through a web dissemination system.

KOSSDA is a non-profit organization with an expertise in the acquisition, preservation, and dissemination of Korean social science data and literature. Data and documentation are available in Korean, with some materials translated into English. Researchers must register to access and download data.

The Library and Archives Canada site contains documents and data within specific collections on Canada's history, society, economy, and more. Archival data date to 1640. Resources are available in French and English.

Part of the U.S. Department of Education, the International Activities Program (IAP) supports a variety of activities to make international comparative data available on education and learning. IAP's main activities are to support U.S. participation in international studies of student knowledge and adult skills and make available the data and findings from these studies.

The Political Database of the Americas makes available information, data, statistics, and other information available on topics of institutions, political processes, national constitutions, branches of government, elections, political constitutional studies and related subjects for up to 35 countries within the region. Resources are available in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

The TÁRKI Data Archive is Hungry's national digital social research archive. It collects, stores and publishes national and international surveys for the social science and business communities. Resources are available in Hungarian and English.

Since 1994, the Survey Research Data Archive has been acquiring, organizing, preserving, and disseminating academic survey data in Taiwan. Data and documentation available in Traditional Chinese, with some materials translated into English. Researchers need to create a login account to access data.

The lead partner of the UK Data Service, providing researchers access to over 7,000 digital data collections for research and teaching purposes. Social, economic, and population data may be relevant for researchers using qualitative or quantitative research methods across multiple disciplines and themes.

Data service is updated daily and allows 24/7 access to over 500,000 financial and economic data series from more than 85 public and proprietary sources relevant for a variety of regional, national, and international topics.

Standard source of international statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. Free for all users.

The World Health Organization's comprehensive database of health indicators across 194 member countries worldwide.

PTW displays a set of national accounts economic time series for 189 countries back to 1950. Its expenditure entries are denominated in a common set of prices in a common currency so that real quantity comparisons can be made, both between countries and over time. It also provides information about relative prices within and between countries, as well as demographic data and capital stock estimates.

Key demographic, social, and economic indicators available for more than 200 countries and territories as well as the United States.

a web-based data service for researchers to search and download a variety of statistical resources compiled by the United Nations (UN) statistical system and other international agencies. Available databases include more than 60 million data points and relate to a variety of topics, such as agriculture, crime, communication, development assistance, education, energy, environment, finance, gender, health, labor market, manufacturing, national accounts, population and migration, science and technology, tourism, transport and trade.