Frequently Asked Questions

The CIA discontinued The World Factbook on February 4, 2026. The entire website, including all historical archives, was taken offline. The agency cited resource reallocation as the reason for the shutdown. OpenFactBook was created to preserve and continue this valuable resource.

No, OpenFactBook is not affiliated with the Central Intelligence Agency or any government agency. We are an independent, community-maintained project that preserves and builds upon the public domain data from the original World Factbook.

Our data comes from multiple authoritative sources: the original CIA World Factbook (archived data), the World Bank Open Data for historical economic trends, and the REST Countries API for supplementary information like currencies, calling codes, and timezones.

Yes, all data on OpenFactBook is free to use. The original CIA World Factbook data is in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105, which states that works produced by the US government are not eligible for copyright protection. Our supplementary data from World Bank and REST Countries is also openly licensed.

We strive to keep our data as current as possible. Historical data from the World Bank is updated annually. Country profiles are reviewed and updated periodically to reflect significant changes in government, territory, or key statistics.

OpenFactBook provides comprehensive profiles for over 260 countries, territories, and other geopolitical entities worldwide. This includes all UN member states, observer states, and many territories and dependencies.

Absolutely! OpenFactBook is designed to be a valuable resource for students, educators, researchers, journalists, and anyone seeking reliable country information. Please cite OpenFactBook as your source when using our data in publications or academic work.

Each country profile includes: geography (location, climate, terrain, natural resources), people and society (population, languages, religions, demographics), government (political structure, leaders, legal system), economy (GDP, industries, trade), infrastructure (transportation, communications, energy), and military information.

Yes! OpenFactBook includes a country comparison tool that lets you compare multiple countries side by side across various metrics including population, GDP, land area, and more. Visit our Compare page to get started.

The original CIA World Factbook website is no longer available. However, OpenFactBook preserves this data and makes it freely accessible. Our data is based on the last available version of the Factbook before it was discontinued.