Library & Cultural Services: Politics & International Relations: Data. Statistics

Data Portals & Repositories

Portals that help surface & link to datasets include:

DataPortals.org lists nearly 600 open data portals around the world

Gesis Data Search cross-searches portals and repositories for social science data

Google Dataset Search is an easy to use site that includes many datasets across the social sciences, including Politics. Note that it includes subscription datasets as well as free ones. Check the library website to see if we have access to subscription datasets (ask me if unsure).

Our World in Data is much more selective, but a useful site for some topics, notably because it includes essays which provide context and background information about data for various research areas.

Re3data global registry of research data repositories, all subject areas

Large-scale data repositories for politics & IR include:

Harvard Dataverse well-known repository of datasets, popular with many academics in political science

ICPSR leading US-based data repository

For more specific data links see the tabs below under "More Resources"

Many countries have a national data archive (such as UK Data Archive in the UK), and a list of some major ones is provided here

Datasets (General)

Note: General data sources only. See the geographical and topical listings for specific data resources

Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem
Access to open Earth observation data from the EUs Copernicus Sentinel satellites. Data has been used by researchers needing spatial and temporal data across many fields, e.g. war & conflict; environment; forced migration & refugees

Cross-National Time-Series Data Archive

Provides annual data from 1815 onward (where available) for all countries. Nearly 200 demographic, political, legislative, economic and social science variables available in Excel format. CNTS is useful for broad cross-country comparisons requiring long time series data.

Demscore
University of Gothenburg initiative that seeks to provide harmonised access to variables from over 160 datasets, covering Democracy, Environment, Migration, Social Policy, Conflict, and Representation.
Good Country Index
Newish project, brainchild of Simon Anholt, ranks countries by their contribution to the global good, taking into account their relative sizes. Also has an interesting Global Vote section, which enables individuals from any country to vote in the elections of other countries.
KOF Index of Globalization
Interesting attempt to quantify levels of globalisation among countries. Data from 1970 onwards.
Political Data Yearbook Interactive (PDYi)
Published annually as the December issue of the respected ECPR journal, European journal of political research, and now available in database form. Election results, referenda, changes in government, and institutional reforms for a range of countries, within and beyond the EU.
UK Data Service - Politics
Repository for some major datasets relating to politics, mostly UK but some European and international.
UNdata
Major portal to over 30 UN databases covering a wide range of topics
World Bank Data
Vast range of datasets, especially useful for topics relating to political economy
World Economics and Politics Dataverse (WEP)
Collaborative project from Princeton and USC, WEP uses the IPE4.0 dataverse, which aggregates nearly 100 datasets to provide over 1000 variables, covering more than 200 countries from c.1500-2022 (as of 2025), subject to data availability.

Country Risk Data. Future Forecasts

The Library has no access to comprehensive data on political risk, most of which is high cost subscription data. However, information can be garnered from the following sources:

1. Political Risk Services (PRS) & Business Monitor International (BMI)

Considered pre-eminent in the field. Political Risk Yearbook country reports are available on library database Business Source Premier from 2009- onwards. Logon to BSP, click on publications (menu bar at top) and type in political risk to get a list A/Z by country. Note that the ICRG risk ratings are not included in these country reports, but they do contain a lot of helpful detail.

2. World Economic Forum Global Risks report

Freely available annual publication 2006- onwards

3. EMIS

Library database with PRS country risk reports (2017 onwards)

4. Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

Well-known organisation, recent editions of its annual CPI dataset include country risk scores from PRS (ICRG), Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, and PERC Asia Risk Guide.

Forecasting

Some forecast economic & financial data is available from the LSEG Workspace (Eikon/Datastream) library database, also from the IMF's World Economic Outlook dataset and publication.

For long term forecasting take a look at the International Futures website and datasets, which cover a range of social, political & economic areas.

In relation to international conflict, the ACLED CAST (Conflict Alert System) seeks to predict political violence up to 6 months ahead.

See also events data such as ICEWS and POLECAT which is used to forecast future potential political crises