The primary focus of the UK Data service is to provide free access to international databases that have a subscription charge. In this section, we highlight selected sources of freely available data.
The IGOs are all publicly funded organizations and many of them make their data freely available. In particular the World Health Organisation makes all the data it produced freely available through the Global health Observatory. Data on food and agriculture are available through the FOA website and the Bank for International Settlements (the world's central bank) disseminates global finance statistics.
The International Labour Organisation, the oldest of the UN agencies, collects data on the labour market and working conditions worldwide. It principal publication is the Key Indicators of the Labour Market, a frequently cited database on labour market statistics worldwide.
This example from the Key Indicators shows the average annual hours worked in Europe.
The World Bank, IMF and UN all make data freely available from their websites. The UK Data Service has created a guide to freely available international data resources.
In this activity you will access the World Bank's World Development Indicators using UKDS.Stat
