In the interest of LOCKSS, I'm sharing the content I got from the internet archive on 2/6/2026 and 2/7/2026. It's a bit of a mess and very much raw-data-y, but you can find formatted versions of the data, including images, audio, and recreated PDF's of the fact sheets and travel sheets here.
The jsons in country/jsons contain the most recent provided data from the CIA world fact book, parsed out by country. You can find out how recent a given image is by checking country-jsons/snapshot_log.csv, which lists the countries, filenames, and the timestamp from when the snapshot was taken by internet archive.
If you like this and want to support more data rescue efforts focusing on educational resources, let me know. Anywho, more elaborate information:
Each of the 254 pages is a complete country profile, structured into up to 15 sections. Here's what a reader will find:
- Introduction — Historical background and current political situation
- Geography — Location, area, terrain, elevation, coastline, borders, natural resources, climate, land use, and an area comparison chart (image)
- People and Society — Population, age structure (with population pyramid graphic), ethnic groups, religions, languages (with audio samples for some countries), literacy, health metrics, birth/death/migration rates, urbanization
- Environment — Environmental issues, international agreements, water resources, waste, emissions, biomes, geoparks
- Government — Country name, capital, government type, constitution, executive/legislative/judicial branches, political parties, flag description, national anthem (with audio), national symbols, diplomatic representation
- Economy — GDP, growth rate, inflation, imports/exports, major industries, agricultural products, unemployment, debt, budget, exchange rates
- Energy — Electricity generation and access, petroleum, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, consumption per capita
- Communications — Internet users, broadband, mobile/fixed-line subscriptions, broadcast media
- Transportation — Airports, heliports, railways, merchant marine, ports
- Military and Security — Forces, personnel strength, equipment, expenditures, service obligations, deployments
- Space (select countries) — Space agencies, launch sites, program milestones
- Terrorism (select countries) — Active terrorist groups
- Transnational Issues — Refugees/IDPs, trafficking in persons, illicit drugs
The jsons also contain references to:
- Country flag image
- Country map image
- Locator map (shows the country highlighted on its continent/region)
- Gallery photos — varies widely: from 0 (tiny territories) to 40+ (US, France, Spain) — landmark shots, landscapes, cultural sites, aerial views
- National anthem MP3 — most sovereign countries have one
- Language sample MP3s — spoken samples of official/major languages (many countries have 1–3 of these)
The data from the jsons was used to create the following items:
- Country Factsheet PDF — a one-page summary with flag, maps, population pyramid, and ~20 key statistics (all 254 countries)
- Travel Facts PDF — practical travel info: visa requirements, vaccinations, currency, electrical plug types, emergency numbers (72 countries — the ones that had travel data)
The smallest profiles (Bouvet Island, Coral Sea Islands) have ~6 sections and 3–4 files. The largest (Germany, United States, France) have all 13 sections, 30–50 files, and 140+ data fields. A typical country falls somewhere in between with 10–12 sections and 8–15 files.