Finding and Using Health Statistics - the U.S. National Library of Medicine offers an online course that explains the range of health statistics available and how to search for health statistics.
Health Data & Statistics Research Guide: Data or Statistics? - this research guide by Michigan State University Library offers a comprehensive list of online health resources for locating health statistics.
Statistics are collected by a multitude of government agencies, organizations, associations and academic institutions and they are published in a wide variety of places both online and in print. There is no 'one stop shop' for locating statistics so the best strategy to use when collecting data and statistics is to first identify the major government agencies, organizations and associations related to the topic you are researching. Some data you simply won't be able to find as it is either not publicly available or they may require a fee for access. On this page you will find recommended sources you can search to gather statistical research.
There are thousands of agencies and organizations that collect and distribute statistics. You will need to identify which agencies and organizations are related to your topic by doing some savvy Google searching. (look under the Finding Open Web Sources tab of this guide for tips). Here are a few general organizations and government agencies that collect statistics regarding health topics:
CDC FastStats - The Centers for Disease Control is the nation's major health protection agency. This FastStats page provides easy access to statistics on topics of public health and is organized alphabetically.
HealthData.gov - An extensive resource of health related statistics collected by various government agencies from the national to select state level.
National Center for Health Statistics - The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) hosted site that provide statistics and data on America's health.
World Factbook - The World Factbook is the source for general statistics and data by country including people, economy, government, geography, communication, transnational issues, and more.
World Health Organization (WHO) - This international agency has a primary goal of combating disease and building a healthy future for people all over the world. They have offices in 150 countries and work with government agencies and organizations researching and promoting the health and safety of people including clean air, clean water, access to food and the vaccines and medical intervention necessary to achieve their goals. Access extensive statistics and data through their Global Health Observatory (GHO) data via the data tab on their webpage.
Health United States, 2015 - Created and maintained by the CDC, contains a wealth of health statistics including mortality, morbidity, health risk factors, health insurance and much more!
Statistics are included in journal, magazine and news articles and reports you find in library databases. They may appear as complex charts and graphs or they are referenced or quoted in the text. You can focus your search within any database by either including specific terms in your search strategy or by taking advantage of the search tools within the database.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context - many viewpoint essays will include statistical information. However, you can specifically narrow your search to retrieve statistics by using the following tools within Opposing Viewpoints:
CQ Researcher - reports available through CQ Researcher look holistically at current, hot topics. Within each report you will find a variety of statistics and data. They will either appear within the text of the report but you are likely to find graphics and charts representing data as well. Scan reports carefully for this data. Tip: there is an extensive bibliography at the end of each CQ Researcher report including books, articles, contacts, further steps and footnotes all of which will lead you to further research and data!
Credo Reference - Credo Reference provides full-text access to over 800 reference books (over 50 of these books are specific to health topics). You will find statistics within many of the entries you retrieve when you do a basic search on your topic. However, if you add the word statistics (ex. infant mortality and statistics) to your search strategy, you will retrieve pertinent statistical information.
Additional search tips for retrieving statistics in any library database:
Within your search strategy, include the word statistics. For example:
Obesity and statistics
This strategy tells the database to retrieve articles not only on the topic of obesity but articles that specifically contain or reference statistics.