Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#1

Post by MilkMp » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 8:50 PM UTC

A structured archive of CIA World Factbook data spanning 1990–2025. It currently includes: 36 editions 281 entities ~1.06M parsed fields full-text + boolean search country/year comparisons map/trend/ranking analysis views CSV/XLSX/PDF export The goal is to preserve long-horizon public-domain government data and make cross-year analysis practical. Live: https://cia-factbook-archive.fly.dev About/method details: https://cia-factbook-archive.fly.dev/about Data source is the CIA World Factbook (public domain). Not affiliated with the CIA or U.S. Government.

Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable
cia-factbook-archive.fly.dev

Re: Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#2

Post by ronald_petty » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 10:31 PM UTC

I like the timeline feature. Maybe I need to spend more time, but to see political changes / borders / etc. would all be great! Keep up the good work.

Re: Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#3

Post by celeryd » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 10:38 PM UTC

Any way to download them all at once?

Re: Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#4

Post by RobRivera » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 10:42 PM UTC

Hurray!

I didnt discover this until I saw the recent post about its deactivation.

Re: Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#5

Post by MilkMp » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 10:46 PM UTC

celeryd wrote: post #3

Any way to download them all at once?

Hey there, will add the feature. Wasn't sure if people's computers could handle it all in one, lol, but will make it available in the data export page.

Re: Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#6

Post by FergusArgyll » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 10:48 PM UTC

Nice!

One thing; you're supposed to write "Cannot confirm or deny my affiliation with the CIA"

Re: Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#7

Post by MilkMp » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

FergusArgyll wrote: post #6

Nice! One thing; you're supposed to write "Cannot confirm or deny my affiliation with the CIA"

Thanks, I will change it!

Re: Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#8

Post by b8 » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 10:50 PM UTC

2025-2026 is available (to purchase/read outside or ur site) and the last version 2026-2027 is planed for release on April 7th, https://www.amazon.com/CIA-World-Factbook-2026-2027-ebook/dp....

Re: Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#9

Post by MilkMp » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 10:52 PM UTC

b8 wrote: post #8

2025-2026 is available (to purchase/read outside or ur site) and the last version 2026-2027 is planed for release on April 7th, https://www.amazon.com/CIA-World-Factbook-2026-2027-ebook/dp... .

Will add to this once it's out. Thanks for sending this :)

Re: Show HN: CIA World Factbook Archive (1990–2025), searchable and exportable

#10

Post by shevy-java » Sun, Feb 22, 2026, 10:55 PM UTC

Hmm. It's kind of weird, because I think I actually used it in the 1990s, probably shortly before Wikipedia emerged. Ever since Wikipedia, I don't think I used the CIA world Factbook much at all, so in a way I guess this partly explains why the website is now defunct. But I am a tiny bit sad that it is gone, if only for a piece of nostalgia from the 1990s era. I think we need to be careful - yes, wikipedia has that information, but we kind of lose websites here. That is a potential danger, because we end up with more and more of a monopoly which is rarely good (ok, wikipedia may be an exception but it also has intrinsic quality issues; it is still excellent in many ways but not perfect, and we may get tunnel vision the more websites vanish - just look at the AI slop autogenerated "content" or "affiliate" links you see in a google search, if anyone is still using that).