The World Factbook About :: Customer Comments

- Public Comments ::
- - Aside from the cloak-and-dagger stuff, the Agency publishes a stunningly useful online document, The World Factbook. I commend the contributors, and endorse it as a fine use of taxpayer money.
  - I always thought the CIA was gathering only 'secret' information. Wow! Was I wrong! The amount of information available on the Agency's website is astounding, not to mention, free. Thank you, guys.
  - I greatly appreciate the vast amount of information available through the CIA's World Factbook, and the enormous amount of work involved in keeping such a database up to date. Thank you for making it possible, and thank you to the many who work to provide such a valuable resource.
  - CIA provides a wonderful service - particularly The World Factbook. Thank you for all your hard work.
  - We love The World Factbook, and my fifth graders will be delighted to know that we heard back from you.
  - I am contacting you to present my thanks for providing the public with fast, reliable, and convenient information at our fingertips, for absolutely nothing in return. My world is a high school geography presentation covering Greece, but by using your information, I started to understand the importance of knowledge being free to the public. Thank you, I plan on using your website for further studies.
  - I am homeschooled and looking for information on French Guyana. Thanks for providing such great information. Your website has been my main source for up-to-date information on the web as we have been studying every country in the world.
  - Thanks, cia.gov, all data from The World Factbook is awesome! So great and so detailed.
  - The World Factbook has been a helpful tool for me for nearly 15 years. Thank you for providing this valuable resource.
  - I want to compliment you on the gorgeous country picker [interactive flash map] on The World Factbook site. Country/region pickers are notoriously difficult to get right, and you absolutely nailed it. Well done.
  - The CIA World Factbook must rank among the most precisely well-documented and politically unbiased publications anywhere. I am delighted to know that my tax dollars support such an important reference work ... Thanks for your time and professional service.
  - The World Factbook is very, very informative and helpful for me. Thank you for publishing it.
  - My birthday is a month from today. All I want is the @CIA World Factbook.
  - Thank you so very much for the beautifully arranged [data] tables you sent me last week. Please convey my heartfelt thanks to whoever assembled the data, and rest assured that when I use it, I will give CIA, The World Factbook as the source of the data.
  - Thank you for making The World Factbook publically available. I have purchased the app for my phone and it is indispensable.
  - Fantastic site. I especially like The World Factbook and the leaders of world section. A treasure trove of information. Nice job!
  - Thank you for your ... letter replying to my earlier inquiry about the CIA's The World Factbook population estimate for Bulgaria. I am glad to note that the updated ... figure comes much closer to the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute’s with a difference as you put it in your letter "within an acceptable range of accuracy." ... I avail myself on this occasion to assure you of my highest consideration.
  - I would like to thank the CIA for their useful World Factbook. I am a student in Colorado. The World Factbook has helped me on numerous occasions at school. It recently helped me get a passing grade in my college geography class ... Thanks for the good grades.
  - I thank you for The World Factbook. It is a FANTASTIC resource.
  - I have seen in your website, (World Factbook) it's the most accurate website in terms of population and economy status of the world. [Comment from Kenya]
  - Thank you so much! This is incredibly useful and I really appreciate the time you took to respond to my request. It's rare to see that level of customer service and it is just awesome. [Grateful response after receiving a reply to a World Factbook question.]
  - Your website is very helpful to me as a parent during homework time. The World Factbook is an invaluable tool for social studies/geography assignment help. I am gonna spread the word to teachers/other parents so they might utilize this awesome website and the multitude of interesting info it contains.
  - The World Factbook is probaly the most fantastic educational tool on which our tax dollars can be used. Thank you so much for your excellent effort.
  - Great job on The World Factbook. It really is fantastic and useful. I love it.
  - Thanks for the great maps on your site! Plus your published historical research is fascinating. I don’t think many individuals know that the CIA offers these resources. When I was a graduate student (1991), I did my thesis on Soviet Oil Production. The CIA had an excellent publication [The World Factbook] which I purchased and cited in my work ... It was a fantastic mixture of geographical information and excellent analysis.
  - I wanted to thank you for everything you do, for this website. The site alone takes a lot of work to maintain, not to mention what you contribute to this country every day. I came across this site by accident. Just being able to go through the library of information about each country has really given me a clearer understanding of the world. I wish more Americans knew about it!
  - I love the CIA website. It helps me a lot with homework and stuff to get ready for the following grade. Thank you sooooooooooooo much. If my brother and sister did not tell me about your site I would still be getting all the wrong information.
  - This is a wonderful site. I am not at all surprised by the depth of information the CIA possesses, but what you share is brilliant. I have learnt things about my own country that amaze me. A real one-stop shop.
  - Love your site. Use it for teaching because I know it is accurate.
  - Just wanted to congratulate you guys on The World Factbook. I have been reading various country reports over the last 10 years. I am an Indian citizen, your analysis on the Maoist insurgency in India as being one of the most destabilizing threats has been spot on. [An Indian visitor]
  - I am a HUGE fan of your agency's World Factbook and seem to find myself spending a fair amount of time every few weeks or so reading the information contained therein.
  - I just want to thank everyone there for the fantastic World Factbook. This is an incredible resource. I have learned much and have truly enjoyed using and browsing through the publication. The World Factbook represents, to the highest degree, the best and most effective use of the Internet to provide relevant and useful and easy to understand information. Thank you.
  - I am emailing to let you know that the The World Factbook you provide as part of the cia.gov website is a great source of information and I appreciate it on a daily basis. I am the International Sales Manager for a skateboard company based in Carlsbad, California so the type, quality, and quantity of information you provide in The World Factbook is a major asset to my daily life. I also frequently travel internationally for business and pleasure so it is nice to be able to look into the facts of my destination before setting off on my travels. Thank you for your time and for providing this much needed information.
  - Every time I come to your site and Factbook I am compelled to tell you what a hell of a good job you do at providing this information to the public at large. Thank You for all the work you do making this information available, and for collecting it in one place. This time I will also comment on everything else you do. I think and believe that you are also doing a hell of a good job for us citizens of the US. Please keep up that good work, too. Nothing created by man is perfect, but it seems that you do strive for it. Thank you for that!

  - G'day,

    I always like to read your info on other countries particularly before I travel to them. Your info is fantastic and very helpful. Thank you for keeping your database updated and full of stuff. I am a town planner and it is very interesting to read up on the latest stats of the world's countries. Your World Factbook is excellent with populations and demographics, politics, and economic info.

    I often go to the US for a holiday to see my relatives there. I love travelling to the States, shopping there and holidaying. I hope to go again next year. I wish your country all the very best.

    Thanks once again. [An Australian visitor]

  - I just wanted to say you have a great site!
  - I think the biggest improvement is being able to hover over the continents and see the country names appear. It really helps to see a country's neighbour and relative position.
  - Thank you CIA and web master for maintaining this excellent website. It is exceptionally important to me as one of my most valued links when teaching Comparative Politics and World Politics to my students.
  - By the way, it [The World Factbook] is an incredible resource work, and should be in every grade school and high school classroom in the country. It is one of the best returns on our tax dollars, in my humble opinion.
  - The Factbook packs the informational punch of an almanac on steroids; it is excellent and exhaustive.
  - I have used the online version of the CIA Factbook for several years and have always been delighted at the quantity and quality of information it contains. We use it in classroom discussions and assignments frequently.
  - What a remarkable compendium of useful information. Great job!
  - I really like your World Factbook. What a great resource. I regularly refer to it as my nine-year-old daughter has a country question each week for homework. Thanks for keeping it so up to date - even the information for New Zealand. This is a very appreciative user. [A New Zealand visitor]
  - Thank you very much for one of the best sites on the Internet. I especially refer to The World Factbook, which is the best way to learn of other countries. Thank you all! [A Norwegian visitor]
  - I got to your website by accident, when looking for information on Belize. Then I got curious and went to look on Portugal, my country. I know you get a lot of stuff to read but, in a world that is always thinking of CIA as a non-trustful organization, I really must congratulate you on the FACTS and fact-oriented analysis on Portugal. Much better and clearer than the info from IMF or the UN and many others. I just wanted to congratulate you for the info on the countries. [A Portuguese visitor]
  - At Utah State University, I worked on an intensive and immersive undergraduate study abroad program for travel to developing countries with cultures very different from the US. In such challenging situations, developing cultural navigation skills is crucial for a successful experience. The World Factbook was initially useful for preparing undergraduates in learning facts about a country. Subsequently, it proved important for giving clues about the direction and nature of cultural differences one could expect upon entering a non-cosmopolitan setting. There is little available in the market for helping students think beyond a "Lonely Planet" shopping list of cultural differences; The World Factbook filled this niche.
  - Wanted to compliment you on the excellent web site you have been maintaining in The World Factbook. The information compiled, particularly on the current status of North Korea, is very, very well done. It takes special talents of special people to boil so much information down into what you have produced, which is readily understandable by the public consumer.

    Thank you, on behalf of this one reader.

    I also feel confident that if your staff and field personnel are working with the same kind of professionalism and integrity, that our country is well served by its intelligence agency in all corners of the world.

    Thanks for your service.

  - I just wanted to thank you for everything that you do, and for this site. The site alone takes a lot of work to maintain not to mention what you contribute to this country every day. I came across the site by accident. Just being able to go through the library information about each country has really given me a much more clear understanding of the world. I wish more Americans knew about it. Thank you!
  - Your effort is probably the most fantastic educational tool on which our tax dollars can be used. Thank you so much for your excellent effort.
  - I wanted to express my gratitude for your placing The World Factbook online. It is a great and quick way to get some interesting facts and data. [An Austrian visitor]
  - I am an American geography teacher working in China. Your website is of great use to me when I prepare my lessons. Thanks.
  - Your website is very helpful to me as a parent during homework time. The World Factbook is an invaluable tool for social studies/geography assignment help. I am going to spread the word to teachers/other parents so they might utilize this awesome website and the multitude of interesting info it contains.
  - I really enjoy the Factbook because I've learned so much about countries I didn't even know existed - plus ones I was a little fuzzy on where they were located. Thank you very much! I think this is an invaluable service.
  - I love The World Factbook and appreciate the valuable and fascinating reference material that you provide. I look at it all the time. Thank you.
  - I want to thank you for The CIA World Factbook! What a fantastic source of information. It should be promoted for use in our schools for Geography, History, and political science. THIS IS OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK in a truly useful form. Thanks for your hard work on our behalf.
  - I would like to thank the CIA for their useful World Factbook. I am a student living in Colorado. The World Factbook has helped me on numerous occasions at school. It recently helped me get a passing grade in my College Geography class. It helped me get an 'A' in my High School Geography class. Thanks for the good grades.
  - I am happy to see our CIA on Facebook and Twitter. God bless you all and keep doing what you all do so well in protecting us. Your "CIA World Factbook" has been a valued research resource for me for many years.
  - Thank you for maintaining The World Factbook. It is a great reference source for me and many others.
  - I teach Geography at a High School in England. The information in your Factbook is extremely useful, there seems to be little else quite like it. Thank you.
  - Your CIA Factfiles ROCK! I teach English in the UAE and the students don't know much about the rest of the world. I LOVE this site! Thank you American government!
  - I find the CIA World Factbook an unbelievably important asset for both research and general fact checking. Thank you for providing it.
  - I wanted to send you a note to let you know that your new website looks wonderful! It still contains the same great, in-depth information but is more compact and easier to navigate. I frequently use the website in my Geography classes and suggest that all my students in Middle School as well as my Community College students search through the information when writing or presenting on different countries of the world.
  - I would like the CIA to know that my [high school] students use information from The World Factbook and website when doing their research on Spanish-speaking countries. Thank you so very much for this very effective link. I wish more students were aware of what you offer.
  - As a geography, US history, and AP government teacher, I wanted to say thank you for the Factbook. It is an incredible resource that I use in almost all my classes, and in my opinion it is one of the better direct contributions for education that government offers today - besides money, of course. I base projects on the Factbook and encourage students to remember it well - I am sure they will be able to make use of it in college as well.
  - Thank you for your wonderful resource. We are using the CIA World Factbook as a reference to standardize codes we use to capture country of birth/territory data.
  - I just wanted to let you know that your website is really good and that you helped me to study and hopefully pass my geography test on poor and rich nations. I don't really think that many people know about this website, but I do because our geography teacher showed it to us. So to sum up what I wrote, thanks.
  - Thank you for providing such a fantastic and informative site. I've visited with varying frequency over the years but always consider your site a first stop for international information. It's well organized and loaded with demographics, maps, illustrations, and much more. The PDF version is wonderful. I'm grateful to see taxes so well spent.
  - We are a high school in Peoria, IL. We have just started a Model United Nations Club here at Richwoods. As a career intelligence professional with the US Marine Corps, I found the CIA World Factbook to be a great starting point for research on countries.
  - I think that this website is amazing and very easy to use. I use it for all of my social studies projects.
  - Wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for all of your work. The information on your website, especially The World Factbook has been very helpful when working with individuals from other countries. It provides me with a better idea of the context in which they lived. That, in turn, makes it possible to be more effective when assisting them in the management of psychological issues. Keep up the good work.
  - I'd just like to tell you, that the CIA Factbook is one of the most useful things to be found on the Internet. Thank you for having it online and updating it constantly. I think the CIA Factbook is one of the most relevant fact books in the world, supplying lots of information about every country and a lot of regions.

    Many greetings and keep on with the good work.

  - Thank you for your World Factbook. As a teacher, I use it frequently. Do not waste time to answer me, just let everyone know who contributed to this edition how it is useful and used worldwide.
  - I am a social studies teacher and we use The World Factbook all the time.
  - It is really nice to see all [the] information about [the] world in one place. You are giving very important info for all [the] world. It is appreciated.
  - Thanks for much for making The World Factbook available on line. I use it often for background information on world events.
  - I've been using your World Factbook on a regular basis as a quick reference tool for my studies in political science. It is a fantastic tool - thank you for providing it.
  - I am a geography buff and I spend a lot of time on The World Factbook site. I wish to thank the CIA for making the info available to us, and a job well done. My respect for the Agency is unwavering. Keep up the good work.
  - I would like to thank you for making your CIA World Factbook available to the public as I find it an invaluable resource.
  - The CIA World Factbook is the most informative website on the Net. Thank you for it.
  - This is a wonderful site. I am not at all surprised by the depth of information the CIA possesses, but what you share is brilliant. I have learnt things about my own country that amaze me. A real one-stop shop.
  - I have been using the CIA Factbook on and off for a couple of years whenever I need some information on a country, and it has helped me a lot. I wish to thank you for keeping it in the public domain.
  - As a political science professor teaching Comparative Politics, I have my students make extensive use of the CIA World Factbook. It's an excellent resource and it is appreciated.
  - I usually use your website for my Geography lessons as a rich source of information students can easily access.
  - I really like The World Factbook. It has so much information! I use it all the time for my social studies homework, at least three times a week. Right now I am doing a project and absolutely all the information I need is on this website! Thank you for creating it.
  - I've been using The World Factbook you provide in your web site, and it is wonderful!
  - Just stumbled across this CIA World [Factbook] website and simply had to let you know how fantastic this site is. It is so chock-a-block full of info and so easy to navigate. A truly magnificent achievement which deserves a plaudit. Many thanks.
  - As a social studies teacher I love the Factbook. Thanks for the great info!
  - Hi, I just visited your website because I'm planning a holiday to Slovakia and wasn't sure if they used the Euro or not. In order to get this information I was going to use The World Factbook, which I've always found really useful in the past as a traveling resource.

    To my surprise I found that you now offer The Factbook as a download which is FANTASTIC! I just wanted to say thank you very much - in the modern world it's not often that people take time out to say thank you, and I wanted to do just that.

    So thank you very much! It is appreciated!

  - I am a teacher in Texas and my class is creating a Cultural Quilts over an African country. Thank you very much and we love this web-site!
  - Hi! I teach world cultures and am using the CIA World Factbook site to update the information to teach to my 6th graders.
  - Your institution's World Factbook is an incredibly useful resource. Being able to quickly find a nation's population, simple economic indicators, religious and linguistic composition, total fertility rate, and literacy rates allows one to fill in contextual gaps that are needed to understand current events. Thank you for providing this resource online to the public.
  - Hello, I am a reference librarian at a university library, and I use the CIA World Factbook a lot. It is an incredibly useful tool, and one that librarians feel can generally be relied upon, because of the authority of the world's leading intelligence bureau.
  - I am a World Studies Teacher and use your Factbook all the time with my students.
  - I really appreciate your team's effort in compiling the country data you have for public use.
  - I love your Factbook. I use it all the time. Your entry about the USA has:

    Industries: leading industrial power in the world, highly diversified and technologically advanced; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining.

    That entry makes my heart swell with pride. Thanks for saying it, and keep up the good work.

  - With due regards, I would like to express my gratitude for the information provided by your World Factbook.
  - Just wanted to let you know that I absolutely love your CIA Factbook. I use it for papers at school and that kind of thing.
  - I have just put online a website that could be very useful for a person who wants to discover [more about] the world. On each place mark you will find information about the country and one link that goes directly to the CIA World Factbook.
  - Thank you for allowing people of non-US origin access to your World Factbook, it is a wonderful collection of data for anyone interested in the world we live in.
  - I'm in the 6th grade and I am doing a report on China and thanks to you guys I found a lot of info about my country.
  - I am a Marketing Professor at the University of Detroit Mercy and I have used the CIA Factbook in many of my classes.
  - First of all, thank you for this site, which helps [one] to get to know other countries and to broaden [one's] views. I am Lithuanian, but now I live in Milwaukee - I am exchange student for one year.
  - I would like to say that your World Factbook has been an excellent source of information for doing many research projects during my high school and collegiate career. I appreciate your hard work and thank you for that excellent resource.
  - Your web-page helps me very much in my teaching of both Geography and English at a local high school in my town in Slovakia.
  - I think the info that you folks make available to the galaxy is extraordinary! Having said that and meaning it, I think it is unfortunate, however, that I am not able to contact you kind folks by phone to ask any questions. Oh, welcome to the wonderful world of technology and its resulting detachment.
- Government Comments ::
- - Your website is excellent. It provides an indispensable reference for those involved in global political, military, diplomatic, or economic affairs. [US Navy officer]

  - For us [at the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, PCGN] the Factbook is an invaluable source of information which is readily accessible and easy to interpret. Knowing that the information contained therein is up-to-date and adheres to Board on Geographic Names/PCGN principles reinforces the authority of such a valuable resource.

    At PCGN we use the Factbook as an important reference when assessing geopolitical information for UK Government cartographic products; the administrative division and transnational issues sections being particularly helpful in these cases. More broadly, we often consult the country pages when researching information for our briefing papers.

    Furthermore, we are happy to be able to include a link to the Factbook from our website, so that our customers too can easily access this very useful source of geographical information.

    We all hope that the Factbook will continue to appear and be maintained as a useful and reliable source of geopolitical information. [Toponymist, PCGN, c/o The Royal Geographical Society]

  - I truly appreciate the fact that it [The World Factbook] is "one stop shopping" for most of my data needs. In fact, as a foundation for any international study or research, it is the best place to start. I often go to other sites looking for data or making sure that the data I have is up to date and complete. However, what I often find is that their data is simply a repost of your data and not always up to date. The other thing that I really appreciate is that I can get a great set of time series data for analysis from The World Factbook. Most of my work involves statistically analyzing data for geospatial analysis, looking for trends or predictive variables. I have been very successful due to the availability and completeness of your efforts. [Researcher, US Department of State]
  - I would like to let you know how much the CIA World Factbook is appreciated. It is an invaluable resource for obtaining the most precise and verified information on foreign countries. I refer to the Factbook often while working on my monographs regarding legal and political developments in Central Asia and in the Caucasus. The CIA World Factbook was repeatedly cited as the source of original information in my books when I compiled comparative tables on the countries of my research. the Factbook is especially significant in that it allows one to find figures, names, and dates that are not otherwise available. This publication is an extremely helpful tool for me and all of my colleagues. [Researcher, Law Library of Congress]

  - I have added some analysis of the geology and geography of a country to several bibliographies I have written for the Corps of Engineers and the federal government in response to a number of recent humanitarian crises. For example, my bibliographies on the geology of Burma (Myanmar) and another one on Somalia included a great deal of information from the CIA Factbook on the geography of those countries, especially the transportation capabilities such as roads, airports, shipping statistics, and other data.

    I have generally found the data in the CIA Factbook to be current, concise and correct, and not usually available (or as easily available) elsewhere. [Researcher, Geospatial Information Library, US Army]

  - Regarding the Cross-Reference List of Country Codes. Kudos for a page that is neat, easy to read, and contains useful information laid out in a logical manner.

    I love that you provide several forms of country coding all on one page, very convenient. Truly, sometimes it is required that I need to cross-reference from one type to another. [NGA GEOINT Aeronautical Intel Analyst]

  - Our office is standardizing the geographical names in our Minerals Availability System Database, and we decided to use the Factbook's designations as a standard because of the reputation of your Agency's work. [Minerals Specialist, US Department of the Interior]
  - The CIA World Factbook remains the U.S. Government employee's ultimate reference resource, an indispensable tool for my day-to-day requirements. Of the many calls I receive asking to clarify some point 'what name should we use for this nationality, how long is the border between these two countries, what are the FIPS 10-4 and ISO 3166 codes for this dependency' the Factbook is my first (and sometimes my only) line of reference. It is convenient, rich in information, and authoritative, and for those reasons and others, it is irreplaceable. [Geographer, US Department of State]
  - I was looking at The World Factbook online. The site looks great! It is pleasant on the eyes, and of course, the content is a treasure trove. [Executive Secretary for Foreign Names, US Board on Geographic Names]
  - Let me take this occasion to commend the CIA for its excellent and oft-used Factbook. It is certainly widely used here in the [State] Department, as well as by the general public. [Deputy Assistant Secretary, US Department of State]
  - My compliments to ... The World Factbook team. I cannot think of a product that I've used more often throughout my career. [CIA Deputy Chief]

  - The CIA Factbook is the primary source used by researchers and academics who track and try to quantify/qualify boundary and territorial disputes. I have seen any number of studies sponsored by USIP, OES and universities who rely on the Factbook's Transnational Issues section for current information on the status of such disputes. A search engine search of territorial and border disputes invariably brings up Factbook entries, past and present.

    Just last Monday, while reviewing my Google Alerts bot on borders/boundaries, I found a paper by a Liberian writer/activist, who cited the Guinea-Senegal dispute, almost verbatim, from the Factbook.

    I would hope that your Agency continues in its unswerving support for your valuable publication to provide the US Government with official information on the global community. As it is vetted through the [State] Department, it remains the unsurpassed authoritative, current, and consistent resource on US perspectives and foreign policy. [Boundary Specialist, US Department of State]

  - By the early 2000s, The World Factbook had replaced various traditional atlases and textbooks in becoming the predominant worldwide authority on current political geography information. Because no other source even approaches the Factbook's volume of usage and acceptance on the World Wide Web, this publication has, perhaps unintentionally, become one of the US Government's most cost-effective means of affecting information flow overseas under both democratic and autocratic regimes.

    Measured within its purview of political, economic, and demographic overviews, the Factbook's reach and acceptance as authoritative has become the envy of other far more costly yet far less effective USG information programs. This level of accuracy, completeness, and effectiveness does not come by accident but only by the USG's continued resolve to support the Factbook program.

    It should be noted that in no small manner, the contribution of the Factbook's cartography is as equally instrumental in worldwide dissemination of geographic knowledge as the Factbook's text.

    Including both the simpler base maps for each Factbook entry as well as the more detailed regional maps, these public-domain products have, far and away, found more widespread dispersal on the World Wide Web than any other single source of overseas non-navigational mapping. The perhaps unintentional effect again is to assure effective dissemination of the USG's depiction of worldwide political boundaries and nomenclature.

    For researchers needing quick, handy reference material, and lacking multiple computer screens that can be viewed simultaneously, the traditional hard copy version continues to be a valuable and indispensable resource as well. [Boundary Specialist, US Department of State]

  - I am working on a contract with the Department of Energy related to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

    The Joint Convention is an International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA initiative adopted in 1997. The World Factbook provides important country background information for US Government officials, specifically DOE, NRC, and EPA, scheduled to attend a meeting of all Contracting Parties. [Safety Specialist, Department of Energy]