Research Guides: History, Australia & Oceania *: Historical Statistics

Where to Start

DATA AND STATISTICS--COMPREHENSIVE

Cross-National Time-Series Data Archive – database provides internationally comparable observations on government expenditure, population, territorial size, per capita GDP, trade, infrastructure, conflict events, elections, legislative process and international status indicators for over 200 countries and territories since 1815 with continual updates.
Google Dataset Search -- facilitates searching approximately 25 million datasets provided by government, public, and private groups. Users can filter results based on the type of data desired [e.g., images or text]. Data availability is based on the original source being formatted using schema.org standards, an open discovery standard for data on the web.
National Statistical Offices -- a directory of country-specific statistical agencies maintained and updated by the United Nations Statistics Division. Also included is a list of countries and organizations which includes a brief history of the country's statistical system, legal basis, the statistical program and much more.
Statista – a portal that integrates data on over 80.000 topics from over 18.000 sources from more than 22,500 sources in over 150 countries onto a single search platform, providing direct access to quantitative data on many topics including media, business, politics, society, technology and education. Sources include market reports, trade publications, scientific journals, and government databases.
UNData -- searchable statistical database provided by the United Nations Statistics Division that provides access to current statistics. The database covers a number of different areas such as employment, industry, and trade. A single interface facilitates the creation of customizable tables and the use of various filters and search options to sort and locate specific statistical information.

Descriptions of resources are adapted or quoted from vendor websites.

Specialized Data Sources

DATA AND STATISTICS--AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, OCEANIA

Australian Bureau of Statistics – Australia’s national statistical agency and an official source of independent, reliable information. Focus is on providing current data, however, the site also includes historical census, economic, labor, industry, demographic, and health data. Besides searching under a particular tab, another useful agency resource are the yearbooks and other sources of historical data from the Historical Publications Online published before 1994.

Australians: Historical Statistics – full-text access to a book published in 1987 devoted to historical data about Australia collected by various scholars and made accessible by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Among the twenty-six chapters are Immigration and Ethnic Origin, Population, Marriage, Fertility and Mortality, Climate, Agriculture, The Economy before 1850 and other various chapters on economic and trade data, War, Crime and Justice, Housing, Social Welfare, Politics, Public Opinion, Religion, and Social Welfare.

Migration Data in Oceania – a Regional Data Overview essay published by the Global Migration Data Portal, a unique access point to timely, comprehensive migration statistics and reliable information about migration data globally. The essay includes analysis and a list of cited sources that can be used to investigate additional research. Essay was last updated on May 31, 2023.

Statistics New Zealand – official New Zealand statistics on the Census, Business, Education, Agriculture, Households, Industry and more. Among the resources available is the The New Zealand Official Yearbook, which has provided a comprehensive statistical picture of life in New Zealand from 1893 to 2010.

NOTE: To search for historical statistics of the countries comprising Oceania--Melanesia (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu); Micronesia (Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Palau), and Polynesia (Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu)–use the comprehensive statistical resources described in the above text box.