Research Guides: Statistics and Data for Health: International

Overview

International bodies, like the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and other United Nations agencies and the World Bank collect official statistics and survey data reported by member countries and national agencies. Data may be missing or incomplete for some countries. The same statistics may be available on on several UN agency data portals, but with different search interfaces. If you cannot find what you need in one source, check the other sources or use the search tools.

For the most current and additional statistics, check the census bureau for the country or the national statistics office. The ministry of health for a country may also post relevant statistics. For historical statistics and data, use the search tools.

The four main data sources, while listed for a section, may be used to find health statistics for other sections and many health and related topics.

Vital Statistics/Demographics

United Nations Demographic and Social Statistics
Topics include Birth and death, International Migration, Marriage and divorce, Population registers and Identity management, Population size and density, Violence against women. There is also a link to the Demographic Yearbooks, which disseminates statistics on population size and composition, births, deaths, marriage and divorce, as well as respective rates, on an annual basis.
International Database - US Census Bureau
Population estimates and projections for 227 countries and areas
United Nations Population Fund Data Portal
Indicators include population, family planning, statistical capacity, education, gender equality, labor, sexual and reproductive health, and inequality.
World Health Organization Data and Statistics
Health areas include burden of disease statistics, health personnel, mortality, and population. There are also regional WHO offices and data portal. For example:Link to health topics of Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the WHO regional office for the Americas.
WHO Annual World Health Statistics Report
The annual compilation of health and health-related indicators has been published by the WHO since 2005. The downloadable Excel file provide statistics for available indicators by country.
WHO Mortality Database
This is a compilation of mortality data by country and area, year, sex, age and cause of death, as transmitted annually by national authorities from their civil registration and vital statistics system. It comprises data since 1950 to date.
European Union: Eurostat
Search with keyword Vital Statistics and country or select country and vital statistics to browse.
IPUMS International Census Data
IPUMS provides census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space. Compare across countries or browse census data by country. Many countries do not collect race data and define race, ethnicity, marital status, and gender categories differently.

Health Care Statistics

Health OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)
Data include hospital stays, hospital equipment, vaccination rates, health care utilization, and doctors' consultations. Use the OECD iLibrary link below to access more health reports and statistics

OECD iLibrary This link opens in a new window
Note: As of 7/1/2024 OECD is a publicly-available resource.
OECD iLibrary (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) provides access to statistical data, books, journals and working papers on subjects such as: Agriculture and Food, Development, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance and Investment, Social Issues, Transport and more. The Statistics channel delivers access to the OECD's statistical databases allowing users real-time access to the latest data. (Updated daily)

WHO Health Service Data
WHO Global Health Observatory Data
Search by keyword or browse the A to Z indicator index.
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Topic areas include Assistive technology; Health financing; Dementia policy and legislation; Road Safety; Nutrition; Priority health technologies; Tobacco control; Child malnutrition and mortality; Tuberculosis; Vaccine-preventable communicable diseases; Mental health; Immunization coverage and vaccine-preventable diseases; Violence prevention; Sexually Transmitted Infections; Health Inequality Monitor; International Health Regulations (2005) monitoring framework; Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); Violence against women; Neglected tropical diseases; Environment and health; Global Dementia Observatory (GDO); Women and health; Dementia diagnosis, treatment and care; Resources for Substance Use Disorders; World Health Statistics; HIV; Noncommunicable diseases; Health workforce; Global Health Estimates: Life expectancy and leading causes of death and disability; Antimicrobial resistance (AMR); Malaria; Air pollution; Global Information System on Alcohol and Health; Health systems; Electrification of health-care facilities; Maternal and reproductive health; and SDG Target 3.8 | Achieve universal health coverage (UHC)
United Nations Data
Single entry point for UN statistical databases and those of several international organizations. Search by keyword.
Browse by selecting the Datamarts tab. Select WHO Data, then World Health Statistics, to browse indicator by grouping, such as Cause-specific mortality and morbidity, Demographic and socioeconomic statistics, Health service coverage, Mortality and global health estimates, Risk factors, and Infectious diseases.
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Other relevant groupings include FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; UNAIDS Data; World contraceptive Use; and The State of the World's Children (UNICEF).
The Commonwealth Fund - Interactives & Data
Its International Health Care System Profiles provides information on how nations organize, govern, and finance their health systems; efforts to improve quality of care, contain costs, and reduce racial and ethnic disparities; innovations in health care delivery; and other recent reforms.

Population-based statistics

For population groups not listed, use search tools or ask a librarian.

Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
DHS surveys, established by USAID, are designed to collect data on marriage, fertility, mortality, family planning, reproductive health, child health, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. There have been more than 300 surveys in over 90 countries. Women of reproductive age (15–49) are the focus of the surveys. DHS Guide.
The STATcompiler allows both visualization and download of data in spreadsheet and mapping formats. A harmonized version of DHS data for 38 countries is available at IPUMS global health.
DHS Select Country to View Quickstats
Health, Nutrition, and Population Data (The World Bank)
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
Read country tables of health-related data or search or browse by indicator and country. Many health related topics for children and adolescents and maternal and newborn health. UNICEF sponsors the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS).
European Health Interview Survey
There are four modules on health status, health care use, health determinants and socio-economic background variables. The survey targets the population aged at least 15 and living in private households.
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The four modules cover the following topics:(1) Background variables on demography and socio-economic status such as sex, age, education, labour status, etc.; (2) Health status such as self-perceived health, chronic conditions, limitation in usual activities, disease-specific morbidity, physical and sensory functional limitations, etc.; (3) Health-care use such as hospitalization, consultations, unmet needs, use of medicines, preventive actions, etc.; and (4) Health determinants such as height and weight, fruit and vegetable consumption, smoking, alcohol consumption, etc.
IPUMS Global Health
IPUMS Global Health provides integrated international health survey data at no cost for research and educational purposes from two data series: (1) the Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) for (women, children, and households) covering Africa and South Asian surveys (1980- present) and (2) Performance Monitoring for Action surveys on fertility, contraception, family planning, nutrition, hygiene, maternal and newborn health, and COVID-19 in 11 high-fertility countries.
International Data ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium of Political and Social Research)
Filter by subject, geography, collection method (survey, aggregate, etc) or search using keywords.

Unique items

Several of the sources below monitor progress toward health equity and well-being for all. There is also statistics on US foreign aid for health.

Global Burden of Disease (GBD)
The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study provides a comprehensive picture of mortality and disability across countries, time, age, and sex. It quantifies health loss from hundreds of diseases, injuries, and risk factors, so that health systems can be improved and disparities eliminated.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Data
Goal 3- Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
WHO Monitoring health for the Sustainable Development Goals
WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard
WHO Health Inequality Data Repository
There is also a link to the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT)
World Bank Open Data
Free and open access to global development data. Browse by country or indicator or enter keywords. To browse health indicators, select Indicator, then select Health.
UNDP Human Development Index (HDI)
The HDI is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and having a decent standard of living. The health dimension is assessed by life expectancy at birth. Sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
USAid AidScape
AidScape is USAID’s central source for U.S. foreign assistance data, international socioeconomic data, and data-driven analysis in support of USAID goals. USAid is an independent federal government agency. It collects and publishes reports and data related to global health topics, including child survival, HIV/AIDS, Infectious diseases, nutrition and maternal health, and population.
U.S. Global Health Budget Tracker (KFF))

Search Tools

Google Dataset Search
Using a simple keyword search, users can discover datasets hosted in thousands of repositories across the Web as well as some subscription-based databases. It is similar to Web of Science Data Citation Index, but is not human indexed, has many duplicates, less refined search filters, and lacks studies citing the data,
Global Health Data Exchange (IHME)
The GHDx is a world catalog of surveys, censuses, vital statistics, and other health-related data. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research center at the University of Washington.
World Bank Data Catalog
The Data Catalog provides a “One-Stop Shop” for development data produced, acquired or used by the World Bank. This includes metadata for datasets from other catalogs such as the Microdata Library, EnergyData.Info, Finances and World Bank Open Data API, IPUMS, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Global Health Data Exchange.
TU Library Search
Enter country name and health related terms to search all Temple University libraries' collections. Use advanced search and include within the subject OR form/genre field, words like "census data" OR "vital statistics" OR "mortality statistics" OR statistics OR "survey" OR data sets" OR datasets OR data.
Guide to Finding Data about Racism and Ethnic Bias
This guide is intended to help find (a) primary and data and datasets documenting racism and the Black experience internationally, as well discrimination based on indigenous, national, and cultural or ethnic origins and (b) tools, articles, and rubrics for building anti-racism into the process of working with data across the data-research lifecycle. The strategies may be used to find health related statistics and data.
ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the US
Select Section 30 on International Statistics and browse by topics. Tables can be downloaded as PDF and XLS spreadsheet format. For historical data, select a year or All editions (1878-2023). Sources include international bodies and a limited number of countries, as listed in Appendix 1.