The World Factbook
Emblem | |
| Language | American English |
|---|---|
| Subject | General |
| Genre | Almanac about the countries of the world |
| Publisher | Central Intelligence Agency |
Publication date | See frequency of updates and availability, discontinued February 2026 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Website | The World Factbook at the Wayback Machine (archived January 31, 2026) |
The World Factbook, also known as the CIA World Factbook, was a reference resource produced by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) between 1962 and 2026 with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. From 1971 it was not classified, and available to the public in print since 1975, initially by the CIA, and later the Government Publishing Office. The Factbook was also available via a Web site, and could be downloaded. It provided a two- to three-page summary of the demographics, geography, communications, government, economy, and military of 258 international entities, including U.S.-recognized countries, dependencies, and other areas in the world.
The World Factbook was prepared by the CIA for the use of U.S. government officials, and its style, format, coverage, and content are primarily designed to meet their requirements. As a work of the U.S. government, it was in the public domain in the United States. It was frequently used as a resource for academic research papers and news articles.
On February 4, 2026, following the restriction and closure since 2024 of other government-funded information Web sites, the CIA announced, with no warning and no explanation, that The World Factbook was discontinued. It has been archived by The Mozilla Data Collective and the Factbook Archive.