Worldometers.info

Christine Bulson at Points of Reference, the reference services blog at Booklist Online, reported this week on the website Worldometers: Real Time World Statistics. Christine suggests the site as useful for people needing statistical estimates on how many or much there is now, not three years ago, of people, money, natural resources, books, websites, and other quantifiable concepts. For someone used to looking at statistics that have set points in time, however, it is a little disconcerting. How do you even read the numbers that are constantly changing? Of course, the reality is that statistics are always a bit fuzzy.

With the print and online Statistical Abstract of the United States being threatened by the federal budget cutters, Worldometers and sites like it may become our new standards. There are links from each reading describing the method and source of the numbers. I'll try to remember this site to help students and business clients.