The World Factbook

"The World Factbook", produced annually by the CIA, has become the ultimate, authoritative source of information on all the nations of the world. It provides current data for more than 250 countries and territories, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. "Potomac Books" publishes a commercial version of The World Factbook in order to extend the limited defence community audience reached by the CIA's own publication, and to make the information openly available to all readers and libraries. Topics addressed for each country include: the political climate; natural resources; environment; population; ethnic groups; GDP; agriculture; industries; defense expenditures; literacy rate; religion; and legal system. This is the best library reference for political/socio-economic information about every country in the world. The comprehensive data is annually updated by the CIA.