The guide to business and economic statistics below provides an introduction to selected sources of facts and figures on a wide range of business and economic subjects.
This guide is organised by industry sector, with sources of general statistics at the end. It includes online databases and websites, some sources of raw data, and printed books, market and industry research reports and serials which are all available from the British Library. It does not feature every statistical resource which might be relevant, but we have selected the ones that are readily available and straightforward to use. For more sources, please use Explore the British Library. You may also find our Industry Guides useful.
Help sheets
Some of the websites and subscription databases we recommend in the guide as sources of business and economic statistics are quite complicated to use. The following are written a guides to help you use each of the following sources:
- DWP Resource Centre website help sheet (PDF format, 99KB)
- Earth Trends website help sheet (PDF format, 191KB)
- FAOSTAT website help sheet (PDF format, 104KB)
- GMID database help sheet (PDF format, 134KB)
- SDBS website help sheet (PDF format, 397KB)
- UNDATA website help sheet (PDF format, 139KB)
If you are doing academic research using business and economic statistics and need help, please contact:
Social Sciences Enquiry team
For more help on using the Social Sciences collections, contact the Enquiry team at Social-sciences@bl.uk or telephone +44 (0)20 7412 7894 from 10.00 - 20.00 Mon- Thurs or 10.00 - 17.00 Friday.
If you are setting up a business in the UK, and need help using business and economic statistics, please contact the BIPC enquiry team on +44 (0)20 7412 7454
This guide was written by Jane Rogers, Content Specialist, in the Social Science Collections and Research Team at The British Library.
