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PSY: Ecopsychology

Statistical Abstract of the United States

Government statistical sources

  • American Fact Finder (U.S. Census Bureau)
    • "Fact Sheet" provides quick access to basic demographic, social and economic data on your city, town, county or state or zip code. Also provides access to more detailed data through advanced functions. 
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Data and Statistics
    • The CDC is a leading agency for health-related information and news.
  • Data.gov
    • The home of the U.S. Government’s open data.  Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more.
  • National Center for Health Statistics:  Health E-Stats
    • Health E-Stats are internet-only releases on current and timely health topics that feature highlights from all NCHS data systems. This list of all Health E-Stats that have been released to date is presented in an interactive, searchable, and sortable data tables format.
  • Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
    • The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR ) series is prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The MMWR  series is the agency’s primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and useful public health information and recommendations.  MMWR  readership predominantly consists of physicians, nurses, public health practitioners, epidemiologists and other scientists, researchers, educators, and laboratorians.  The data in the weekly MMWR  are provisional, based on weekly reports to CDC by state health departments.
  • National Center for Health Statistics
    • The mission of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is to provide statistical information that will guide actions and policies to improve the health of the American people. As the Nation's principal health statistics agency, NCHS leads the way with accurate, relevant, and timely data.
  • Safety & Health Statistics
    • The Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities (IIF) program provides annual information on the rate and number of work-related injuries, illnesses, and fatal injuries, and how these statistics vary by incident, industry, geography, occupation, and other characteristics. These data are collected through the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).
  • State Health Facts Online (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)
    • Kaiser is a non-profit organization focusing on national health issues, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. Unlike grant-making foundations, Kaiser develops and runs its own policy analysis, journalism and communications programs, sometimes in partnership with major news organizations. Serves as a non-partisan source of facts, analysis, and journalism for policymakers, the media, the health policy community, and the public.
  • U.S. Census Bureau
    • The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of data about the nation's people and economy
  • World Health Organization:  Global Health Observatory Data
    • World Health Organization's gateway to health-related statistics for more than 1000 indicators for its 194 member states.  Data are organized to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including health status indicators.

Specific govermental agencies

Other Online Sources

  • How Much Information? 2009 Report on American Consumers
    • UC San Diego Experts Calculate How Much Information Americans Consume.
  • Cisco Systems Government Affairs 
    • A collection of Internet related statistics, including use of the Internet in education and e-commerce stats.
  • The Pew Internet & American Life Project
    • The Pew Internet & American Life Project is one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center. The Project produces reports exploring the impact of the internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life.
  • Pew Research Center  
    • The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. PewResearch.org is a portal to material produced by the Center's seven projects and also a home to original material produced exclusively for this site.
  • United Nations Data
    • Gateway to statistical information from databases of the United Nations and Member States

Government agencies: Mental Health Statistics

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Mental Health Work Group: Data and Statistics.
    • Reports data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), which can be used to build tables to review nationwide or state trends from 1993 to 2007; on health-related quality of life; and from the annually conducted National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which has data on mental health and psychological stress measures. Many of the data from these special reports are around ten years old.
    • Access: http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/data-stats.htm.
  • Childstats.gov.
    • Compiled by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, this site serves as a portal to an assortment of data on children and families reported by 22 different government agencies. “America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being” is an annual online publication of the Forum. Users can view the full report or scan through its highlights. In addition to demographic statistics, data are available on topics such as emotional and behavioral difficulties, health care, family and social environment, and more.
    • Access: http://childstats.gov.
  • National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) FastStats: Mental Health.
    • This easy-to-use Web site provides simple access to basic mental health statistics. The More Data section includes statistical surveys and publications like Depression in the United States Household Population; access to the mental health trend tables from Health, United States; and more. Data sets are available for downloading and searching.
  • Access: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/mental.htm.
  • National Institutes for Mental Health: Statistics.
    • This site is useful for the researcher who needs to perform a quick look up. Science News about Statistics features press releases that contain statistics on mental illness from government sources and periodical articles. Publications about Statistics highlights online publications on mental health statistics such as “The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America.” This site contains good summary information and fact sheets.
    • Access: http://mentalhealth.gov/health/topics/statistics/.
  • SAMHDA Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive.
    • Hosted by the Inter-University Consortium for Social and Political Research (ICPSR), SAMHDA contains raw data-sets from SAMHSA, codebooks, survey instruments, and tutorials. Popular data sets are listed on the top page, and users can also search across SAMHDA and ICPSR data sets for more. Information on the SAMHDA site is publicly available, but some ICPSR data requires membership. If printed reports are needed, use SAMHSA’s OAS site, or most of the other resources mentioned in this section.
    • Access: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA/
  • SAMHSA’s National Mental Health Information Center (NMHIC): Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS): Mental Health Statistics.
    • Includes Mental Health United States for 2000–2004 and statistics on mental health services offered in the United States. Also available are output tables of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Uniform Reporting System, Characteristics of State Mental Health Agency Data Systems and Projections of National Expenditures for Mental Health Services and Substance Abuse Treatment, 2004–2014. Related Links takes you to a directory listing of mental health statistics from other programs and organizations.
    • Access: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs/MentalHealthStatistics/.
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Office of Applied Studies: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Statistics.
    • SAMHSA collects and reports the majority of mental health statistics for the United States, and its Office of Applied Statistics site includes data on tobacco, alcohol, and drug use in addition to mental health statistics. Includes reports on the population suffering from psychological distress as well as data on mental health treatment. Short reports created from surveys, such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and complete access to data sets from the OAS Data Systems are included.
    • Access: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov.
  • World Health Organization (WHO): Mental Health Atlas.
    • WHO collects and reports statistics on well-being, mental health and neurological disorders from around the world. Global and regional reports, country profiles, and data on mental health law, policy, mental health care professionals and resources by country are available. Availability of mental health disorder statistics will vary from country to country. The atlas provides information on where to get more detailed data for nations which collect mental health statistics.
    • Access: http://apps.who.int/globalatlas/default.asp.

Andrews, M. (2010). Statistical sources: Online resources for education and social science librarians. College & Research Libraries News, 71,16-20.