What's the World Factbook?
The World Factbook [1][2] published by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offers free country profiles in the public domain (that is, no copyright(s), no rights reserved, no license).
Note: All country profiles use the original / official two-letter GEC (formerly FIPS) codes and NOT the ISO codes (you
might be used to) e.g. au.json
for Austria (and NOT at.json
), gm.json
for Germany (and NOT de.json
), and so on.
For a little background on this factbook project from the humble author, see the all-in-one page talk slides / notes titled Turn the World Factbook into Open (Structured) Data.
Find some more notes on query examples (and import instructions) for MongoDB from another talk. Happy exploring the world with JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) datasets / documents.
Q: Thanks for this fantastic work! Do you know any open source REST HTTP API for the World Factbook?
A: Not sure I understand your question ;-). factbook.json is a REST HTTP API for the World Factbook.
For example, to request the country profile (data) for Germany (gm
) using the REST HTTP API ( - no API key required ;-) - ) try https://github.com/factbook/factbook.json/raw/master/europe/gm.json and so on.
A: The factbook has many more entities / countries than ISO and sometimes with a different definition - it's NOT an easy 1:1 mapping, see Cross-Reference List of Country Data Codes.
Q: I noticed that you've got Zambian data under ZA for the African region... It should be South African data...
A: See why not ISO codes - Uhhh... nevermind, I see it's stored under SF. Weird, but, ok :)
A: Since August 2021 the datasets get auto-updated using / fetching the original
online CIA World Factbook country profile datsets (cached in cache.factbook.json
) weekly, that is,
every Thursday. See the GitHub Actions log for details.
Q: The World Factbook front-page says "for 266 world entities" - but here I find only 260 (thus, 6 entities short)? What's the story?
The World Factbook provides basic intelligence on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.
(Source:
cia.gov/the-world-factbook
)
A: Since March 2006
the United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges (um
)
country profile consolidates
seven profiles into a single new one
(but keeps entities count as before):
- Baker Island (
fq
) - Howland Island (
hq
) - Jarvis Island (
dq
) - Johnston Atoll (
jq
) - Kingman Reef (
kq
) - Midway Islands (
mq
) - Palmyra Atoll (
lq
)
A: In December 2020 the World Factbook dropped coverage of the Western Sahara (wi
). Why?
In a deal with Morocco the United States recognizes the claim
of Marocco over the Western Sahara and in return
Morocco starts official diplomatic relations with Israel.
Code, Name, Category, Region
wi, Western Sahara, Miscellaneous, Africa
Europe/Austria - au.json
:
{
"Introduction": {
"Background": {
"text": "Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire,
Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War..."
}
},
"Geography": {
"Location": {
"text": "Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia"
},
"Geographic coordinates": {
"text": "47 20 N, 13 20 E"
},
"Map references": {
"text": "Europe"
},
"Area": {
"total": {
"text": "83,871 sq km"
},
"land": {
"text": "82,445 sq km"
},
"water": {
"text": "1,426 sq km"
}
},
"Area - comparative": {
"text": "about the size of South Carolina...",
},
"Land boundaries": {
"total": {
"text": "2,524 km"
},
"border countries": {
"text": "Czech Republic 402 km, Germany 801 km, Hungary 321 km, Italy 404 km,
Liechtenstein 34 km, Slovakia 105 km, Slovenia 299 km, Switzerland 158 km"
}
},
"Climate": {
"text": "temperate; continental, cloudy; cold winters with frequent rain and
some snow in lowlands and snow in mountains;
moderate summers with occasional showers"
},
"Elevation": {
"lowest point": {
"text": "Neusiedler See 115 m"
},
"highest point": {
"text": "Grossglockner 3,798 m"
}
},
"Natural resources": {
"text": "oil, coal, lignite, timber, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony,
magnesite, tungsten, graphite, salt, hydropower"
},
...
}
The World Factbook includes 266 260 entries -
195 sovereign countries /
2 others /
58 52 dependencies /
5 miscellaneous /
5 oceans /
1 world:
A
af
Afghanistan
al
Albania
ag
Algeria
an
Andorra
ao
Angola
ac
Antigua and Barbuda
ar
Argentina
am
Armenia
as
Australia
au
Austria
aj
Azerbaijan
B
bf
The Bahamas
ba
Bahrain
bg
Bangladesh
bb
Barbados
bo
Belarus
be
Belgium
bh
Belize
bn
Benin
bt
Bhutan
bl
Bolivia
bk
Bosnia and Herzegovina
bc
Botswana
br
Brazil
bx
Brunei
bu
Bulgaria
uv
Burkina Faso
bm
Burma
by
Burundi
C
cb
Cambodia
cm
Cameroon
ca
Canada
cv
Cape Verde
ct
Central African Republic
cd
Chad
ci
Chile
ch
China
co
Colombia
cn
Comoros
cg
Congo DR
cf
Congo
cs
Costa Rica
iv
Cote d'Ivoire
hr
Croatia
cu
Cuba
cy
Cyprus
ez
Czechia
D
da
Denmark
dj
Djibouti
do
Dominica
dr
Dominican Republic
E
ec
Ecuador
eg
Egypt
es
El Salvador
ek
Equatorial Guinea
er
Eritrea
en
Estonia
wz
Eswatini
et
Ethiopia
F
fj
Fiji
fi
Finland
fr
France
G
gb
Gabon
ga
The Gambia
gg
Georgia
gm
Germany
gh
Ghana
gr
Greece
gj
Grenada
gt
Guatemala
gv
Guinea
pu
Guinea-Bissau
gy
Guyana
H
ha
Haiti
ho
Honduras
hu
Hungary
I
ic
Iceland
in
India
id
Indonesia
ir
Iran
iz
Iraq
ei
Ireland
is
Israel
it
Italy
J
jm
Jamaica
ja
Japan
jo
Jordan
K
kz
Kazakhstan
ke
Kenya
kr
Kiribati
kn
North Korea
ks
South Korea
kv
Kosovo
ku
Kuwait
kg
Kyrgyzstan
L
la
Laos
lg
Latvia
le
Lebanon
lt
Lesotho
li
Liberia
ly
Libya
ls
Liechtenstein
lh
Lithuania
lu
Luxembourg
M
ma
Madagascar
mi
Malawi
my
Malaysia
mv
Maldives
ml
Mali
mt
Malta
rm
Marshall Islands
mr
Mauritania
mp
Mauritius
mx
Mexico
fm
Micronesia
md
Moldova
mn
Monaco
mg
Mongolia
mj
Montenegro
mo
Morocco
mz
Mozambique
N
wa
Namibia
nr
Nauru
np
Nepal
nl
Netherlands
nz
New Zealand
nu
Nicaragua
ng
Niger
ni
Nigeria
no
Norway
mk
North Macedonia
O
mu
Oman
P
pk
Pakistan
ps
Palau
pm
Panama
pp
Papua New Guinea
pa
Paraguay
pe
Peru
rp
Philippines
pl
Poland
po
Portugal
Q
qa
Qatar
R
ro
Romania
rs
Russia
rw
Rwanda
S
sc
Saint Kitts and Nevis
st
Saint Lucia
vc
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
ws
Samoa
sm
San Marino
tp
Sao Tome and Principe
sa
Saudi Arabia
sg
Senegal
ri
Serbia
se
Seychelles
sl
Sierra Leone
sn
Singapore
lo
Slovakia
si
Slovenia
bp
Solomon Islands
so
Somalia
sf
South Africa
od
South Sudan
sp
Spain
ce
Sri Lanka
su
Sudan
ns
Suriname
sw
Sweden
sz
Switzerland
sy
Syria
T
ti
Tajikistan
tz
Tanzania
th
Thailand
tt
Timor-Leste
to
Togo
tn
Tonga
td
Trinidad and Tobago
ts
Tunisia
tu
Turkey
tx
Turkmenistan
tv
Tuvalu
U
ug
Uganda
up
Ukraine
ae
United Arab Emirates
uk
United Kingdom
us
United States
uy
Uruguay
uz
Uzbekistan
V
nh
Vanuatu
vt
Vatican City (Holy See)
ve
Venezuela
vm
Vietnam
Y
ym
Yemen
Z
za
Zambia
zi
Zimbabwe
tw
Taiwan
ee
European Union
Australia (6):
at
Ashmore and Cartier Islands
kt
Christmas Island
ck
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
cr
Coral Sea Islands
hm
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
nf
Norfolk Island
China (2):
hk
Hong Kong
mc
Macau
Denmark (2):
fo
Faroe Islands
gl
Greenland
France (8):
ip
Clipperton Island
fp
French Polynesia
fs
French Southern and Antarctic Lands
nc
New Caledonia
tb
Saint Barthelemy
rn
Saint Martin
sb
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
wf
Wallis and Futuna
Netherlands (3):
aa
Aruba
uc
Curacao
nn
Sint Maarten
New Zealand (3):
cw
Cook Islands
ne
Niue
tl
Tokelau
Norway (3):
bv
Bouvet Island
jn
Jan Mayen
sv
Svalbard
United Kingdom (17):
ax
Akrotiri (Sovereign Base)
av
Anguilla
bd
Bermuda
io
British Indian Ocean Territory
vi
British Virgin Islands
cj
Cayman Islands
dx
Dhekelia (Sovereign Base)
fk
Falkland Islands
gi
Gibraltar
gk
Guernsey
je
Jersey
im
Isle of Man
mh
Montserrat
pc
Pitcairn Islands
sh
Saint Helena
sx
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
tk
Turks and Caicos Islands
United States (14 8):
aq
American Samoa
gq
Guam
bq
Navassa Island
cq
Northern Mariana Islands
rq
Puerto Rico
vq
US Virgin Islands
wq
Wake Island
um
US Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges
(Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Palmyra Atoll)
ay
Antarctica
gz
Gaza Strip
pf
Paracel Islands
pg
Spratly Islands
we
West Bank
wi
Western Sahara
xq
Arctic Ocean
zh
Atlantic Ocean
xo
Indian Ocean
zn
Pacific Ocean
oo
Southern Ocean
xx
World
See the factbook
command line tool and scripts for details.
Q: Anybody using these datasets? I don't know really. Add your project here - yes, you can!
Thomas Derflinger writes:
I used your JSON data files to import them into a Mongo database. Then I used Apollo to set up a GraphQL API in front of it. Using the project chi-country-facts (https://github.com/tderflinger/chi-country-facts) you can query World Factbook data comfortably using GraphQL (there also exists a web GraphQL playground). This enables easy data querying and extraction.
Another project of mine is Visual World Facts (https://visual-world-facts.pages.dev), where I try to visualize the World Factbook data in new ways. For example, I visualized the GDP by PPP of world countries with a treemap, which can lead to new insights.
The datasets and scripts are dedicated to the public domain. Use it as you please with no restrictions whatsoever.
Send them along to the Open World Database (world.db) and Friends Forum/Mailing List. Thanks!