With endorsements from such respectable institutions as the New York Times and the BBC, NationMaster presents a formidable amount of data for the general public in a way that is both accessible and at times, downright addictive. The website brings together data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, the United Nations, as well as other such organizations. On the left-hand side of the page, visitors can peruse areas such as “Top Stats”, “What’s New” and “Stats in the News”. The “Top Stats” presents information on the countries with the greatest life expectancy, the highest median income, and so on. Journalists may find the “Stats in the News” area particularly helpful as it presents data on topical areas of interest such as statistics on bird flu infection rates and oil consumption. Additionally, users can offer comments on some of the data sets, and at any given time, there tends to be a great deal of commentary on almost all of the items featured on the site.