Human Rights: Country Reports

The annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – the Human Rights Reports – cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements. The U.S. Department of State submits reports on all countries receiving assistance and all United Nations member states to the U.S. Congress in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Trade Act of 1974.

The Amnesty International Report is a yearly publication produced by Amnesty International, a leading global non-governmental organization dedicated to human rights advocacy. Like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International investigates and reports on human rights abuses worldwide. The organization's reports are known for their thorough research and influence on international human rights policies and practices.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports are detailed publications issued by Human Rights Watch, a prominent international non-governmental organization (NGO) that advocates for human rights worldwide. These reports are based on thorough research, including field investigations, interviews, and analysis of primary sources. They document and analyze human rights abuses, such as violations of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, in various countries and regions.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government agency created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), as amended. USCIRF monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) abroad; makes policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress; and tracks the implementation of these recommendations.

Profiles provide coverage of history, politics, and economic backgrounds of countries and territories. Also includes backgrounds on key institutions and audio and video clips from BBC archives.

Developed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the World Factbook offers updated country profiles providing information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues of 267 world nations. The website provides a comprehensive collection of world maps that can be freely downloaded. Also includes a Guide to Country Comparisons. Categories include geography, people and society, the economy, communications, transportation, and the military. Information can be downloaded into data files.

Provides country-by-country data (e.g., population, languages) as well as detailed information about political history, politics, social movements, economics, and current issues.

Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) country analysis and forecasts cover over 200 countries and highlight political, economic, and business developments in all significant markets, both established and emerging. For political reports of each country, go to the top navigation bar and choose Topics > Politics. Each report provides a political environment rating, the latest political developments, a 5-year political stability forecast, policy trends, election watch, international relations, and a Democracy index.

Provides country information on Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. Includes country profiles; macroeconomic statistics, forecasts, and analysis; reports on financial markets, companies, and industries; exchange rates; analyst reports; and business news.

Europa World Plus is the online version of the famous reference source, Europa World Year Book. It provides political, economic, and historical information, including statistics, for over 250 countries and territories.  Europa World Plus also contains the nine-volume Europa Regional Surveys of the World series.  

Although primarily used in the fields of business and economics, FitchConnect also provides in-depth political risk ratings and analysis, including 10-year forecasts. Each report includes a "Political SWOT" (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) assessment of current political events and a "Political Outlook" section.

Freedom House is a non-partisan organization that rates people’s access to political rights and civil liberties in 210 countries and territories through its annual Freedom in the World report. Freedom House provides full country narrative reports for each country.

The Statesman's Yearbook provides information on international affairs, covering key historical events, population, city profiles, social statistics, climate, recent elections, current leaders, defense, international relations, economy, energy and natural resources, industry, international trade, religion, culture, and diplomatic representatives, as well as fact sheets and more.

Country profiles prepared by World Bank staff are available for over 150 nations. The site provides direct links to the World Bank data catalog for each country along with access to the latest publications, news items, and development topics published by, or related to, World Bank operations.