CIA Discontinues World Factbook After 60 Years

The Central Intelligence Agency announced on Wednesday that it is discontinuing its long-running World Factbook, a comprehensive reference resource on global countries and communities that has been available for more than six decades.

The decision, detailed in a statement on the agency's website, marks the end of a publication that originated in 1962 as a classified printed manual for intelligence officers. It provided detailed statistical overviews of foreign nations, covering their economies, militaries, natural resources, and social structures. The resource quickly proved valuable beyond the CIA, leading other federal agencies to adopt it. By 1971, an unclassified version was released to the public, and it was renamed the World Factbook in 1981. The online edition launched on CIA.gov in 1997, drawing millions of annual visits from a wide audience, including journalists, researchers, educators, students, trivia enthusiasts, and international travelers.

The Factbook encompassed a broad array of topics, such as history, government systems, economic indicators, communications infrastructure, environmental conditions, and transnational issues. It also featured over 5,000...