Field definitions
The 22 statistics we rank countries by, each one explained: what it measures, how it is collected, which source supplies our figure, where the indicator came from, and a worked example of the mistake it most often invites.
These pages cover the comparable numeric fields. The descriptive material on a country profile (geography, government, history, transnational issues) comes from the frozen January 2026 Factbook edition and is documented on the archive page instead. Reference facts such as capitals, languages, currencies and borders come from the datasets named on the sources page. Every field below is refreshed from a live source except area, which is static reference data and carries no observation year.
Economy 8
- GDP (nominal) Gross domestic product at current market prices, converted to US dollars: the total value of all goods and services produced in a year.
- GDP per capita GDP at current US dollars divided by mid-year population: average economic output per person.
- GDP growth Annual percentage change in real (inflation-adjusted) GDP, in constant local currency.
- Inflation rate Annual percentage change in consumer prices, measured by the consumer price index (CPI).
- Unemployment rate The share of the labour force that is without work but available for and seeking employment.
- Price level (US = 100) How expensive a country is relative to the United States: 50 means goods cost about half of US prices on average.
- Average monthly earnings Mean gross monthly earnings of employees, converted to US dollars.
- Monthly minimum wage The statutory national minimum wage, expressed on a monthly basis in US dollars: the legal floor for pay, not what a typical worker earns.
People 8
- Population The total number of people living in a country or territory, counting all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.
- Population growth Annual percentage change in total population, combining natural increase and net migration.
- Population density People per square kilometre of total area.
- Life expectancy The number of years a newborn would live if current age-specific mortality rates applied for their whole life.
- Median age The age that splits a population in half: 50% younger, 50% older.
- Fertility rate Total fertility rate: the average number of children a woman would bear at current age-specific birth rates.
- Urban population share The percentage of people living in areas classified as urban by their national statistical office.
- Internet users share The percentage of the population that used the internet in the last three months.
Geography and environment 3
Military 3
- Military expenditure Total military spending in current US dollars, including personnel, operations, procurement, and military R&D.
- Military expenditure share of GDP Military spending as a percentage of GDP: the economic burden of defence.
- Armed forces personnel Active-duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces where their training and command resemble the military.
Per-field sources and refresh cadence are tabulated on the methodology page. Area and population density are computed from the mledoze/countries reference dataset, which contains information made available under the Open Database License (ODbL).