NationMaster
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NationMaster features a large database of variables for comparing countries. A wide range of demographic indicators are covered including literacy rates, taxation levels, and murders per capita. These are also available in pie charts, scatterplots, and correlations graphs.
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[edit] Sources
NationMaster's database is composed of data that originated from sources including national censuses, UNDP, the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, World Bank Development Indicators, the World Resources Institute, the World Health Organization, OECD reports. As of 2006 April it has a mirror of Wikipedia irregularly updated by as much as 438 days ago.
[edit] History
NationMaster began in May 2003 as a re-interpretation of data found in the CIA World Factbook, and has since allowed comparisons using data found from other sources as well. For each economic, social, or cultural indicator, NationMaster presents a table of data comparing each US-recognised country.
They now claim to have 40 times as many variables as the CIA World Factbook, and have a wider rage of tables comparing countries with respect to data such as the number of "McDonalds" restaurants and parking fines issued per capita.
[edit] Criticism and controversy
NationMaster uses the content from Wikipedia along with commercial advertisements. For example see [1] and [2]. The site appears to specify more restrictive terms than (and thus be incompatible with) the GNU Free Document License (GFDL) of the original Wikipedia content. For example, see [3].
It briefly had a category on sex, which compared sexual behaviors by country, based on poll responses, but this was quickly removed.
The correlation graphs have sparked some debate because correlations can be made that could point to socially sensitive possibilities. For example a high gender empowerment rank on UNDP correlates to a high divorce rate. Such correlations without a sound understanding of statistical principles may cause such data to be misinterpreted or abused by the ignorant.
As a secondary source that seeks to republish a large number of primary sources, inconsistencies between variables on the site can arise. In one case the site essentially indicates that some nations have a murder rate by firearms higher than the murder rate was by all causes combined. South Africa .71 firearms murders 1000 people compared to their listing of South Africa's total murder rate listed as .49 per 1000. Both these tables claim the Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 - 2000 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention) as their source. Reviewing the data sets provided by the United Nations, however, proves that NationMaster cited their source correctly. In this study, the Seventh United Nations Survey numbers the total recorded intentional homicides at 21,995 for South Africa in the year 2000. South Africa's totals for recorded intentional homicides committed with a firearm in the same year is 31,918. In other words, the UN reports that there were roughly 10,000 more murders with firearms than all murders combined in South Africa for the year 2000.
Other issues relate to shortcomings in the process of statistical collection. For example, their crime stats contain a disclaimer that "Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence."
