Library Guides: Statistics & Data for the Social Sciences: A Guide: National Security

Featured Resource

Global Terrorism Database

The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is an open-source database including information on terrorist events around the world from 1970 through 2007 (with annual updates planned for the future). Unlike many other event databases, the GTD includes systematic data on domestic as well as international terrorist incidents that have occurred during this time period and now includes more than 80,000 cases.

The Global Terrorism Database is a product of U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the
University of Maryland, College Park.

General Statistical Resources

International Statistic Agencies
Scroll down the page for a country by country list of the agency within the country that reports domestic statistical information. Compiled by the U.S. Census.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
An independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. Best known for regular national surveys that measure public attentiveness to major news stories, and polling.
United States Census
Official United States government information and data about the population and economy of US states.

State Fragility

Center for Systemic Peace
CSP is engaged in innovative research on the problem of political violence within the structural context of the dynamic global system, that is, global systems analysis.
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The Center regularly monitors and reports on general trends in societal-system performance, at the global, regional, and state levels of analysis and in the key systemic dimensions of conflict, governance, and (human and physical) development in the sincere belief that the foundation and guarantor of good governance is an active, informed public.
Correlates of War
A standard source of information on global conflict dynamics, human rights abuses, and geo-political issues. Coverage of individual countries varies. Data collection began in 1963.
Failed States Index
An annual ranking prepared by the Fund for Peace and published by Foreign Policy of the world's most vulnerable countries.
Index of State Weakness in the Developing World
Brookings Institute, 2008.

Security & Terrorism Resources

SIPRI Databases
A suite of databases providing information on multilateral peace operations, military expenditures, arms transfers, and arms embargoes.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an independent research institute focused on conflict and security issues.
Global Terrorism Database
An open-source database including information on terrorist events around the world from 1970 through 2007 (with annual updates planned for the future). Includes systematic data on domestic as well as international terrorist incidents.
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
A center of excellence of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security based at the University of Maryland tasked with providing guidance on dealing with terrorism. Provides access to the Global Terrorism Database, an open-source database with information on terrorist events around the world since 1970.
Nation Master
Database of variables for comparing countries. Provides demographic indicators covering terrorism, military and crime statistics. Statistics available in pie charts, scatterplots, and correlation graphs. Data is taken from public domain, including census, UNDP, UNESCO, UNCTAD, WTO, World Bank Development Indicators, the World Resources Institute, the World Health Organization, OECD reports, and the CIA World Factbook.
Southern Poverty Law Center - Hate Map
The Southern Poverty Law Center collects data on 932 active hate groups operating in the United States in 2009. Only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2009 are included. SPLC is a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry.
RAND Database of Worldwide Terrorism Incidents
Database of terrorism incidents stretching back to 1972, widely regarded as the gold standard for comprehensive information on international and domestic terrorism.