Real World Data from the United Nations

Posted by Kenneth Ronkowitz on


UNdata logo
I stumbled on the United Nations UNdata site recently. It's a powerful database of information that could be used in many ways by students and teachers.

Currently, it holds 55 million records and, like the world it covers, it is growing. There are country profiles and other data collections. You can also search or browse records, and filter the results. You can download data to analyze offline.

There are obvious classroom uses for social studies, but I can see the database being used in math clases and for lessons in information literacy. This is Real World data for real world research opportunities.

Here are some samples to get started:

  • Studying a country? For example, check the Iran statistics
  • Global Energy statistics
  • check the glossary for a definition. You know deforestation - what about afforestation? That's the artificial establishment of forests by planting or seeding in an area of non-forest land.
  • world Internet users
  • What are the current life expectancies and how does it affect world population projections?

Surfing the web leads to more surfing. Not always a bad thing. This site led me through its links to other United Nations sites such as UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the World Health Organization.

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