The CIA World Factbook is lifeless. Right here’s how I got here to adore it : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2556x1372+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/png/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0d%2Fd0%2Ff0674794445d8be73d83c3f28377%2Fscreenshot-2026-02-06-at-9-08-24-am.png" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2556x1372+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0d%2Fd0%2Ff0674794445d8be73d83c3f28377%2Fscreenshot-2026-02-06-at-9-08-24-am.png" class="img" alt="The World Factbook's website drew millions of views each year, according to the CIA. It's seen here in an archived version from last month." fetchpriority="high"/> The World Factbook's web site drew tens of millions of views annually, based on the CIA. It is seen right here in an archived model from final month. CIA World Factbook by way of Web Archive/ Screenshot by NPR conceal caption

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CIA World Factbook by way of Web Archive/ Screenshot by NPR When one of many world's most secretive and far-reaching organizations affords to share the way it sees the world, it is price taking a peek.

That is the thought I had once I dove into the CIA World Factbook for the primary time as a younger editor at CNN Worldwide within the early 2000s. If journalists goal to write down the primary draft of historical past, I figured, then the Factbook, culling knowledge from Cupboard companies and different official retailers, may very well be a dependable major supply.

The CIA World Factbook began out as a labeled Chilly Warfare doc, however it later emerged as an web stalwart. In lecture rooms and private and non-private analysis areas, individuals relied on it for presenting important information about international locations and governments.

However with out warning, the CIA stated this week that it's going to not produce the publication that it beforehand touted as "indispensable."

A 'perennial bestseller' filled with important information For a way of how indispensable it may very well be, take into account visiting Bulgaria with out studying this Factbook "Journey Info" tip: "In contrast to in most different international locations, a vertical shaking of the top signifies 'no' in Bulgaria whereas a sideways shaking signifies 'sure.'"

Librarians at CNN and NPR had been the primary individuals I heard singing the Factbook's praises, treating it because the gold normal for making necessary distinctions reminiscent of whether or not a rustic is majority Shiite or Sunni, and how much authorities it has.

However they're half of a big choir: For the reason that Authorities Publishing Workplace began publishing the World Factbook in 1975, it has been a "perennial greatest vendor," the GPO says.

"The CIA World Factbook has been for 30 years a useful goldmine of dependable data utilized by college students, students, reporters and most people," says CIA historian Tim Weiner, referring to the a long time the Factbook has been on-line; its historical past goes again even additional (extra on that beneath).

The Factbook was an instantaneous hit after it went on-line in 1997 — providing an orderly view of the world, one 12 months earlier than Google's 1998 debut. The CIA says it has "garnered tens of millions of views annually."

All of that got here to an abrupt finish on Feb. 4, when the CIA closed the guide on the Factbook. The useful resource's former internet deal with now redirects to a short one-page message stating that it "has sundown," and is bidding it farewell. The CIA gave no cause for the transfer, so I known as the company's media workplace, which declined to touch upon the file.

Its demise comes one 12 months into the tenure of CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who has promised to carry "strict adherence to the CIA's mission" of intelligence gathering and evaluation.

The Factbook's web site might need been wiped from the web, however 1000's of copies of the positioning have been saved to the Web Archive, together with dozens from current weeks and almost 29,000 since January 2017. And you'll find bodily copies of the guide in lots of public and college libraries.

From the sensible to the fanciful For teachers, the Factbook provided laborious dependable knowledge that was up to date annually. For worldwide vacationers, it provided a promise of predictability. Its Journey Info part listed every thing from voltage necessities and cultural norms to what sort of meals and souvenirs guests would discover.

"In 1988, I used to be going to Afghanistan, then beneath Soviet domination," says Weiner, creator of the guide, The Mission: The CIA within the twenty first Century. "And one of many first issues I did was to go to the CIA World Factbook for details about Afghanistan, which was laborious to seek out" within the pre-internet period.

"It is such as you would not go off on a visit as a reporter and not using a map, and also you would not go off to an odd nation with out consulting the CIA World Factbook," he provides. "It was a compass to find the world."

Once I was overlaying the 2016 Olympics in Brazil and the 2018 Video games in South Korea for NPR, the Factbook was clutch, decoding flags and nationwide anthems and laying out the place international locations stack up within the pecking orders of GDP, land mass and inhabitants. I got here to depend on it for every thing from locator maps to a fast information to a rustic's political, non secular and ethnic dynamics.

The Factbook additionally provided superlatives that trivia buffs might depend on, issuing Every day Info of historic and geographical significance. It listed, for example, the one two "doubly landlocked" international locations — which suggests they're surrounded by different landlocked international locations — on this planet: Uzbekistan and Liechtenstein.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2284x910+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/png/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8f%2Fab%2F17fe5f69443689b33bcceb2c4fcc%2Fscreenshot-2026-02-06-at-10-20-37-am.png" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2284x910+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8f%2Fab%2F17fe5f69443689b33bcceb2c4fcc%2Fscreenshot-2026-02-06-at-10-20-37-am.png" class="img" alt="A "Fact of the Day" entry on the World Factbook website from earlier this year shows a building in Bethlehem, Pa., that was part of the first pumped municipal water system in the U.S., dating to the 1760s." loading="lazy"/> A "Truth of the Day" entry on the World Factbook web site from earlier this 12 months reveals a constructing in Bethlehem, Pa., that was a part of the primary pumped municipal water system within the U.S., courting to the 1760s. CIA Factbook by way of Web Archive/ Screenshot by NPR conceal caption

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CIA Factbook by way of Web Archive/ Screenshot by NPR It additionally included pictures of native scenes, from vacationer websites to fields of livestock. And because the spy company famous this week, "solely CIA insiders would know that officers donated a few of their private journey pictures" among the many Factbook's greater than 5,000 images. (As for a way many individuals have labored on the guide itself, the company says that is labeled!)

The Factbook's roots lengthen to World Warfare II The World Factbook's origin story is interwoven with that of the CIA itself. The company is a descendant of the Workplace of Strategic Companies (or OSS, as many crossword solvers would possibly know), which was created throughout World Warfare II to assemble dependable intelligence.

The OSS labored with the Military and Navy to create authoritative value determinations of fundamental intelligence, emphasizing basic information. A CIA historical past of the Factbook notes that because the U.S. emerged from the warfare as a world energy, it acknowledged a have to proceed giving leaders a dependable, 360-degree view of the world.

The company quotes an concept put forth by the author George S. Pettee, that "the conduct of peace includes all international locations, all human actions — not simply the enemy and his warfare manufacturing."

After the CIA's creation in 1947, it dubbed the enterprise the Nationwide Intelligence Survey. In 1962, the CIA started publishing the labeled Nationwide Primary Intelligence Factbook, based on the company.

The CIA issued the primary unclassified model of the publication in 1971; it was renamed The World Factbook in 1981.

The Factbook's demise drew instant concern from individuals who incessantly depend on it for his or her work, as Reddit teams for lecturers, librarians and journey brokers mourned its passing.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2556x1372+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/png/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb1%2Fcf%2F869d599e4270bfa9d16a3dc3fa4c%2Fscreenshot-2026-02-06-at-9-48-32-am.png" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2556x1372+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb1%2Fcf%2F869d599e4270bfa9d16a3dc3fa4c%2Fscreenshot-2026-02-06-at-9-48-32-am.png" class="img" alt="A World Factbook "Fact of the Day" entry from 2025 shows the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, a Christian pilgrimage site near Beirut." loading="lazy"/> A World Factbook "Truth of the Day" entry from 2025 reveals the Shrine of Our Woman of Lebanon, a Christian pilgrimage website close to Beirut. CIA World Factbook by way of Web Archive/ Screenshot by NPR conceal caption

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CIA World Factbook by way of Web Archive/ Screenshot by NPR And I mourn with them, whereas I search for one other free and dependable on-line useful resource that gives to kind international locations by metrics reminiscent of median age, inflation price, internet migration, and spending on schooling – particulars that can provide information tales necessary context.

However we'll give the final phrase concerning the Factbook to the CIA. This is how the company described it in 2020, through the last months of President Trump's first time period:

"It has been a useful resource utilized by presidents, by warfighters, and by the world's best students. It's utilized in instances of disaster, in instances of uncertainly [sic], in instances of peace, and in instances of warfare. It's an authoritative supply of fundamental intelligence that has and can proceed to be a necessary a part of CIA's legacy."