Subject Guides: Psychology: Find Statistics

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Find Statistics

U.S. Statistics

The following links are US Government provided databases that give statistics on data collected by national surveys such as the US Census and other academic organizations regarding the United States and its citizens.

Statistical Abstract of the U.S. (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window ProQuest Statistical Abstracts of the United States is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States.
U.S. Census Bureau Data This link opens in a new window US Census Bureau's website fact finder section. This free web site has Census data from the Decennial Census Summary Files, American Community Survey Summary Tables, and Economic Census. American FactFinder can create custom tabulations from micro data files, compute simple statistics, and create a thematic map for a specific geographic place.

Census Data: Current Connects to the U.S. Census Bureau, the major source of U.S. demographic, social and economic information. The CenStats File in this database requires and ID and password available at the Government Information Reference Desk.
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Social Explorer This link opens in a new window The data presented here describe the people and the economy of the U.S. for each state and county from 1790 to 1970.

FedStats Provides links to key statistics available from more than 70 Federal agencies. Includes a keyword searching option.

Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new window Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition, a compendium of statistics from over 1000 sources last updated in the distant 1975, has been expanded to include over 37,000 data series -- three times more than in the previous edition -- and dozens of new topics, among them slavery, American Indians, and poverty. The standard source for the quantitative facts of American history.

Other Statistics

The following databases cover a more wide range of topics such as religion, social sciences, environmental science, and US/international information polls that can be accessed through BYU. These can aid in providing statistics in a more specialized fields rather than based on country like the databases listed above.

Statista This link opens in a new window An aggregator of statistics on almost any topic.

Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions.
Religious Statistics A collection of over 45,000 adherent statistics and religious geography citations with references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc. Searchable by location or name of religion.
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Family and Society Database (Heritage) The Heritage Foundation's familyfacts.org highlights social science research regarding the relationship between family structure and religion and the well-being of men, women, children, and society. The Database currently contains over 2,000 empirical findings drawn from more than 1,250 peer-reviewed journal articles published throughout the past 20 years.

International Statistics

The following databases provide resources and statistics on topics from population to government and technology that is searchable by country and provided by various international bodies such as the United Nations.

CIA World Factbook This link opens in a new window Provides a country-by-country listing of basic statistical and factual information. A few miscellaneous areas such as Antarctica and the West Bank are also included. Entries average two pages in length. Updated annually.
Europa World Plus This link opens in a new window Europa World Plus is the online version of the Europa World Year Book and the nine-volume Europa Regional Surveys of the World series. First published in 1926, the year book is renowned as one of the world's leading reference works, covering political and economic information in more than 250 countries and territories.

IMF International Financial Statistics The International Monetary's Fund's database of International Financial Statistics provides interactive access to data from 1945 to the present. Data series for individual nations cover GDP, imports, exports, employment, and many other economic indicators and national accounts. Additional data sets include consumer price indices worldwide, international interest rate data, and commodity price data. Statistics are downloadable to Excel, and pdf scans of the printed versions are also available.
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UNdata This link opens in a new window The replacement for the United Nations Common Database (UNCDB). Provides statistics on economics, demographics, trade, etc. for the nations of the world gathered from a variety of international organizations. Easy to compare multiple nations and export to Excel.

United Nations Comtrade Database The UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database provides international trade statistics for free. However, data cannot be downloaded to non-subscribers.

Find Data Sets

Use these resources to locate data sets from other scholars and organizations.

ICPSR This link opens in a new window ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction.
Roper Center iPoll This link opens in a new window Alternate title: iPoll Databank. The iPOLL Databank is the most comprehensive, up-to-date resource for US public opinion data. Includes major U.S. commercial, media, and academic polls from 1935-present.

Data.gov Data.gov is the U.S.'s online open dataset platform containing data and visualization from various national and local government research initiatives and projects.
World Bank World Bank is an online database that stores social science datasets with an emphasis on global developments.
Population Reference Bureau PRB is a nonpartisan research organization focused on improving the health and well-being of people globally through evidence-based policies and practices.
Public Library of Science (PLOS) PLOS is a nonprofit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication.
SocArXiv SocArXiv, open archive of the social sciences, provides a free, non-profit, open access platform for social scientists to upload working papers, preprints, and published papers, with the option to link data and code.

Data Storage

If you need to find storage space for your own data (e.g., to fulfill grant obligations), one option at BYU is HBLL’s ScholarsArchive (https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu.) ScholarsArchive is an open access research repository offering free, long-term storage space for research data. Contact scholarsarchive@byu.edu for more information.