Sources & methodology

Publication standard

Knelstrom publishes sourced observations with their reference period, retrieval history and evidence status. Missing information is not guessed. Suspicious automated changes are held for review. The final-2025 CIA World Factbook provides the foundation field structure. Each imported CIA field is tracked by Knelstrom’s field resolver. Where an equivalent newer approved observation exists, the newer value takes precedence; otherwise the CIA value remains as the foundation while stale, missing and unmapped update paths are flagged internally.

Licensing

External datasets are enabled only after the specific source has been cleared for the intended commercial use. Per-file media licences are retained with imported media metadata.

Updates

Approved automated sources are refreshed in batches. Historical observations are retained rather than silently overwritten.