Subject Librarian
Key Online Statistical Sources
The following websites provide various statistical data about Pacific islands.
- Asian Development BankContains economic and development information and statistics on the Asia Pacific region, including many Pacific islands.
- Island Areas / United States Census BureauNews release with instructions about how to access U.S. census data in downloadable format for American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
- Pacific Regional StatisticsFrom PRISM (Pacific Regional Information System). Provides excellent access to statistical information about the Pacific islands, with direct links to country/territory statistics websites.
Additional Online Statistical Sources
Here are additional sources that contain statistical information about Pacific islands. Some are freely available while others are licensed resources.
- Explore Census Data (formerly American FactFinder)This is a new platform for accessing U.S. census data. American FactFinder moved to this new platform on March 31, 2020.
- Data.govOpen data of the U.S. government; includes data sets for the Pacific Islands.
- Historical Statistics of the United States-Millennial Edition Online This link opens in a new window
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Searchable updated source of historical data on government statistics, including population, work and welfare, economics, and more. - Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) This link opens in a new window
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Includes largest archive of digital social science data. - International Historical Statistics, 1750-2010 This link opens in a new window
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A three volume set, one for the Americas, one for Europe, and one for Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
- NationMasterGeneral stats on different countries, including some comparative data on specific crimes.
- OECD iLibrary This link opens in a new window
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Online library of e-books, e-periodicals, and interactive statistical databases produced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). - ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the U.S. This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States, from 2013 to the present. Volumes covering 1879-2012 are on the US Census site.
- UNDataAccess point for various United Nations databases. For a guide that explains how to locate data within this data set, cut and paste the following web address into your browser: http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/docs/64/409026/UN_data_set.pdf
- UNICEF Data: Monitoring the Situation of Children and WomenUNICEF measures the situation of children and women and tracks progress through data collection and analysis.
- World Development Indicators / The World BankLicensed resource.
Working with Numbers
When working with statistics, aggregate data, and microdata, it is important to consider a number of factors:
- Geography — the country, region, city, neighborhood
- Time Period — current, historical, over time, etc.
- Population/Units of Analysis — age, sex, race, ancestry, educational attainment/households, individuals
- Variables — responses to questionnaire and how they are organized
- Context — what is the hypothesis being investigated
- Questionnaire — what questions were asked; shows what will and won't be available in the data
- Availability — Sometimes the data you require was not collected, or was not arranged in the way that works best for your project. You may need to use multiple types of data from different sources as a way around this.
- Source — When you find data online, make sure it is clear from where (and when) the information originated.
The UCLA Social Science Data Archive's Tutorials provide excellent information about working with social science data, citing data sources, how to read codebooks, etc.
Visit UCLA's Institute for Digital Research and Education (IDRE) Statistical Computing website for tutorials, online statistical publications, consulting, etc.