... when I want basic info on a country. The actual country's census info is a better source for many things -- if it publishes it in a complete form.
The one thing that we need to keep in mind with this information is that it relies heavily on what is reported by the countries themselves. Just because it's "CIA" doesn't mean we have agents in the remote villages of China documenting how many girl babies are left to die, for example.
But it is an excellent comprehensive source despite limitations.
Evie 
In the ''Newborn fatality'' thread I had linked to some of the data at this site in regard to infant mortality data as well as birth rate data. I then started looking more closely at what was in there. Pretty interesting and informative, I thought.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
For info on the World Factbook itself, check out the links on the homepage above for History of the World Factbook as well as the FAQ's. They update the information every 2 weeks.
(From the History page. NIS = National Intelligence Surveys):
The Factbook was created as an annual summary and update to the encyclopedic NIS studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The year 2006 marks the 59th anniversary of the establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency and the 63nd year of continuous basic intelligence support to the US Government by The World Factbook and its two predecessor programs.
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