The World Factbook

The World Factbook provides basic intelligence on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, environment, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.

Travel the globe with CIA’s World Factbook.

What's New

The number of country photographs in The World Factbook now exceeds 5,000. All are in the public domain. These photographs may be viewed in a number of ways. After clicking on a country’s Photos section, the first 12 images will show up. In the upper right, a “Per Page:” box with a dropdown arrow allows users to view more photos at a time (24, 48, or All). Once an image is selected, it appears in a larger size along with a useful scroll bar that displays icons of the five photos before and after the selected photo in the photo sequence. Check out the new photo access system and enjoy browsing the Factbook‘s ever-growing photographic collection.

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Explore Countries

Explore All Countries
World Travel Facts

Travel more intelligently with The World Factbook Travel Facts. Here’s what you should know about each country before you go.

One-page Country Summaries

Pressed for time? Check out our one-page summaries for essential information on each country.

Flags of the World

Every flag has a story. View flags of all the world’s countries and territories to learn the symbolism behind each design.

Country Comparisons

Love data? The World Factbook has over 65 rank order pages that compare country data in specific fields.

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