Data Service: Middle East

Key data resources and data collections made available via University of Oxford subscription or open data initiatives.

Africa Information Highway
The African Development Bank (AfDB) statistical data portal provides tools to gather, analyse and export statistical data and indicators relating to African Countries, including North African countries. You can also visualise socio-economic indicators over a period of time, gain access to presentation-ready graphics and perform comprehensive analysis on a country and regional level.

Statistical information provided by AfDB, AUC, and UNECA.

Arab Barometer (2006+)
Multi-country social survey designed to assess citizen attitudes about public affairs, governance, and social policy in the Arab world, and to identify factors that shape these attitudes and values; a repository of publicly available data on the views of men and women in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.

Bahrain Open Data

Carnegie Middle East Governance and Islam Dataset, 1988-2014 (ICPSR)
Includes both individual-level and country-level variables. Data on individual-level variables are drawn from 56 surveys carried out in 14 Arab countries, Turkey, and Iran.

Emerging Markets Information Service (EMIS)
Delivers company and industry information, financial markets data, and macroeconomic analysis of emerging markets in North Africa (part of MENA) and Sub-Saharan Africa.

International Historical Statistics: Africa, Asia & Oceania
A collection of data sets taken from hundreds of disparate primary sources, including both official national and international abstracts dating back to 1750. This edition provides updated statistics to 2010.

Israel Social Sciences Data Center (ISDC)
Established by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to collect, preserve and distribute data of interest to the academic community, the ISDC is an infrastructure for quantitative research of Israeli social and economic issues.

Open Data for Africa (AfDB)
Provides access to quality data for managing and monitoring development results in African countries.

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

SESRI (Social and Economic Survey Research Institute, Qatar University): Data Center
Data and documentation from current studies available for download:

  • 2022 FIFA World Cup World cup Survey;

  • Qatar against the blockade;

  • Social capital survey;

  • Marriage delay survey.

UN ESCWA (Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia)
Comprises 18 Arab countries in Western Asia: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, The Sudan, The Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, The United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

World Health Organization Collaborative Study on Social and Health Aspects of Aging in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, 1991 (ICPSR 6250)
Demographic characteristics, economic resources, health, activities of daily living, living habits, social activities, housing , and mental state of the respondent.

You can find further resources on this theme by using on Databases A-Z or SOLO and subject guides.

Recommendations for additions to these lists are always welcome. Please email the Bodleian Data Librarian with suggestions.