International Programs

International Data Base

The International Data Base (IDB) offers a variety of demographic indicators for countries and areas of the world with a population of 5,000 or more. The IDB has provided access to demographic data for over 25 years to governments, academics, other organizations, and the public. It is funded by organizations that sponsor the research of the Census Bureau"s International Programs Center for Demographic and Economic Studies. For more information and all the Release Notes see the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Release Notes: December 2009

This release of the IDB contains revised estimates and projections for 21 countries incorporating new data and/or analysis. For general information about how these estimates and projections are developed, see Population Estimates and Projections Methodology. All projections have been produced by sex and single years of age up to 100 years and over.

• Burma
• Cape Verde
• Central African Republic*
• China
• Costa Rica
• El Salvador
• Grenada
• Kiribati
• Lebanon
• Lesotho*
• Liberia*
• Monaco
• Oman
• Paraguay
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• Samoa
• San Marino
• Sao Tome and Principe
• Tuvalu
• Western Sahara

* Denotes that a country has undergone additional analyses to update the estimated effects of HIV/AIDS. See Population Estimates and Projections Incorporating AIDS.

Below is a brief summary of revisions for countries experiencing more than a 500,000 change in the estimated 2009 population. 

• Burma’s population in 2009 is estimated to be 4.7 million (10 percent) higher than before.  This is due to higher estimates of fertility based on a reassessment of trends in census and survey data.  The increase in births is partially offset by increases in net emigration reflected in statistics on refugees and economic migrants. 

• China’s population in 2009 is estimated to be 17.8 million (1 percent) lower than before due primarily to lower estimates of fertility.  The estimates now incorporate survey-based estimates from 2003 to 2008, and our fertility estimates since 1995 also include more modest adjustments for birth underreporting than assumed before.

• El Salvador’s population in 2009 is estimated to be 1.2 million (16 percent) lower than before.  This is due both to lower estimates of fertility as well as higher estimates of net emigration.  These changed estimates result from recent surveys as well as migrant statistics collected in the United States and Canada.

• Paraguay’s population in 2009 is estimated to be 700 thousand (10 percent) lower than before.  This is due primarily to lower estimates of fertility, which were based on a variety of recent surveys.

• Oman’s population in 2009 is estimated to be 500 thousand (15 percent) lower than before.  This is due to lower estimates of fertility, which were based on key surveys and a recent census.

The land area used to calculate population density was updated to agree with the latest data in the online CIA World Factbook. (as of 11/9/09).

New population estimates for the United States covering 2000-2009 will be released in December 2009 on the Census Bureau website (see http://www.census.gov/popest).

Release notes history