Data and Statistics

Nice resource for finding international data on all kinds of policy-related topics. Note that you can download the data as a CSV file. Check out the Source tab for information about the data file and the original source of the data. Because they use data from third parties, you might want to check out how to cite OWiD sources correctly.

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
Time period: 1984-present
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): state, national
Unit of observation: individual
The BRFSS conducts health-related surveys that collect data from interviewing more than 400,000 adults each year regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services.

Time period: 2008 - present
Geographic coverage: USA
Geographic unit: national, region, state, county, MSA
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) AtlasPlus is an interactive tool that gives users the ability to create customized tables, maps, and charts using nearly 20 years of CDC’s surveillance data on HIV, viral hepatitis, STD, and TB.

CDC’s WISQARS™ (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) is an interactive, online database that provides fatal and nonfatal injury, violent death, and cost of injury data from a variety of trusted sources.

Time period: 1968-present, varies by database
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): varies by database
Unit of observation: varies by database
The CDC WONDER online databases allow users to query data in four databases: AIDS, environment, mortality and population. Find health related data in topics such as chronic conditions, communicable diseases, environmental health, health practice & prevention, injury prevention, nationally notifiable conditions, and occupational health.

This site gives you direct access to public data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). API also available.

The Washington Post published a significant portion of a database that tracks the path of every opioid pain pill, from manufacturer to pharmacy, in the United States between 2006 and 2012. Related: A 500-row subset, so you can see what the data looks like before downloading the large files.

Time period: 2020-2021 edition
Geographic coverage: US, some international comparisons
Geographic unit(s): state, national
Unit of observation: statistics
Health, United States is an annual report on trends in health statistics. The complete report is online in a PDF form with interactive links which enable easy navigating in and beyond the report. The charts and tables in the report are available in .PDF and .Excel.

Time period: mostly 2000- (varies by dataset)
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): mostly state and national
Unit of observation: varies by dataset
HealthData.gov is a general finder for health related statistics and data. Find datasets that are organized into topics such as health, Medicare, community, quality, and inpatient.

The Medicare Part D Opioid Prescriber Summary database provides metrics associated with the opioid prescribing rate at the state and ZIP code levels. Opioid prescribing rates are derived using data from Medicare Part D claims prescribed by health care providers. The Data-Planet link is a simple view of the data. (Note that the link above works best if you are already on Grounds, or signed into NetBadge or VPN already.)

Time period: 1975-2016
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): county, SEER registry
Unit of observation: patient
The SEER research data include SEER incidence and population data associated by age, sex, race, year of diagnosis, and geographic areas – read the documentation for details. The data are available in the binary format required by the SEER*Stat software and in an ASCII text format that can be analyzed with many other statistical softwares. A signed agreement is required for using the data – see the Accessing page for more information. The Data-Planet link (above) is a simple view of the data. (Note that the link above works best if you are already on Grounds, or signed into NetBadge or VPN already.)

Time period: varies by survey
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): mostly state and national
Unit of observation: individual; statistics
The NCHS provides statistical information regarding health of the American People. They offer public-use microdata files from surveys and data collections such as National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), national health care surveys, National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), National Immunization Survey (NIS), and Longitudinal Studies of Aging (LSOA). Many data files are also available from the ICPSR.

Time period: birth year cohorts 1906-21, 1922-37, 1941-52, 1943-53, 1957-64, 1980-84
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): (restricted use geocode data) ZIP code, tract, MSA, county, state
Unit of observation: individual
The National Longitudinal Surveys is a program of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The surveys contain a wide array of topics, e.g., labor market activity, schooling, fertility, health and more. Find health information such as health status, weight, health conditions, sexual activity, child care, and more.

The Sexually Transmitted Disease Database contains Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) morbidity case reports reported to the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and Guam. The number of cases and disease incidence rates are reported by year, gender of patient, type of STD, and area of report. The Data-Planet link is a simple view of the data. (Note that the link above works best if you are already on Grounds, or signed into NetBadge or VPN already.)

Time period: 1997-present
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): varies
Unit of Observation: varies
Funded though the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), SAMHDA includes datasets on substance abuse treatment services, drug use, and mental health surveys.

Time period: 1993-present
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): district, territory, tribal government, state, national (some upon request)
Unit of observation: individual
The YRBSS monitors health-risk behaviors such as alcohol, drug and tobacco use, unhealthy dietary behaviors, inadequate physical activity, and sexual behaviors. The data files are available in ACCESS and ASCII formats, with SAS and SPSS scripts for data import.

Time period: 1995-present (varies by database)
Geographic coverage: Canada
Unit of observation: aggregate; record
CIHI collects comparable, pan-Canadian data on different aspects of the health system. Some reports and statistics are accessible for the public (see Access Data), while many data holdings are available for request.

Time period: 1960-present
Geographic coverage: international (Northern America not included)
Geographic unit(s): national, some sub-national
Unit of observation: aggregated
The HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base is a joint effort of the US Census Bureau and the USAID, which contains estimates of HIV/AIDS prevalence compiled from medical and scientific studies. The online interactive Data Base provides easy access to the data.

Time period: DHS: 1980s-present; PMA: 2014-present
Geographic coverage: DHS: Africa & South Asia; PMA: 10 African countries
Geographic unit(s): country
Unit of observation: individual
IPUMS Global Health provides integrated international health survey data from two data series: the Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) and Performance, Monitoring, and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020). The DHS Program currently covers Africa and South Asian surveys from the 1980s to the present. Integrated PMA2020 surveys cover fertility, contraception, hygiene, and health, administered frequently to monitor trends in select high-fertility countries.

Time period: mostly 1990- (varies by country and indicator)
Geographic coverage: international
Geographic unit(s): mostly national and global
Unit of observation: aggregated
The UNICEF provides cross-national statistics of children health and wellbeing. Their data portal, < a href="http://www.devinfo.org/libraries/aspx/Home.aspx">DevInfo, enables easy access to data on human development. Find health related statistics and data of topics such as child survival, health care, HIV/AIDS, immunization, safe motherhood, and more.

Time period: 1995-present, in waves
Geographic coverage: International (108 low, middle, and high income countries)
Geographic unit(s): country
Unit of observation: individual or household
UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys is the “largest source of statistically sound and internationally comparable data on women and children worldwide.” This provides data for the Millennium Development Goals indicators. Topics include health, education, and child protection among many others.

Time period: 1986-present
Geographic coverage: international
Geographic unit(s): nation
Unit of observation: statistics; household, individual
The DHS program of the USAID collects data on population, health, HIV and nutrition through more than 300 surveys in over 90 countries. Use STATcompiler for statistics. The survey datasets can be requested for research purposes; see the available datasets here.

Time period: 1960-present
Geographic coverage: international
Geographic unit(s): mostly country
Unit of observation: statistics
World Bank Open Data provides free and open access to data in countries around the globe. Find health statistics and data include HIV/AIDS, cause of death, health financing, immunization, infectious diseases, health workforce and facilities, water and sanitation, and more. Follow the Data Query link or use the World DataBank to query and download data.

Time period: varies by country and indicator
Geographic coverage: international
Geographic unit(s): country
Unit of observation: aggregated
The GHO data repository provides health-related indicators and statistics from its 194 Member States. Topics include mortality and burden of diseases, the Millennium Development Goals, non communicable diseases and risk factors, epidemic-prone diseases, health systems, environmental health, violence and injuries, and more. Browse their data repository by theme, indicator or country.