Short answers, pulled from the story.
The World Factbook was a reference produced by the CIA to brief U.S. government officials on the demographics, geography, government, economy, and military of countries and territories worldwide. It also became a common source for academic research papers and news articles.
The CIA discontinued The World Factbook on the 4th of February, 2026, redirecting its website to a notice that the project had ended. The agency gave no explanation and declined to comment on the record.
The World Factbook covered 258 international entities in its general description, and by the time of a later count it listed 266 entities, including 195 independent countries, dependencies, and other areas.
The World Factbook was produced by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, drawing on seventeen named government sources including the Bureau of the Census and the Defense Intelligence Agency. The first classified edition appeared in August 1962, with an unclassified version following in June 1971.
No official reason was given, though the shutdown followed CIA director John Ratcliffe's push to end programs that do not advance the agency's core missions. CNN linked the closure to a broader pattern of restrictions on government-funded information sites since 2024.
The Mozilla Data Collective archived the Factbook's final public data from the 23rd of January, 2026, and a separate Factbook Archive site preserved records from 1990 to 2025. A group of volunteers also launched OpenFactBook, using much of the same underlying information.