Learn how to integrate the Countries API into your application with our comprehensive guides and examples.
Start making requests in seconds. No authentication, no rate limits, no hassle.
The Countries API is a free, static JSON API providing comprehensive structured data from the CIA World Factbook for 250+ countries and territories. No API keys, no authentication, no rate limits—just simple HTTP GET requests.
Data is AI-extracted from the CIA Factbook and structured into consistent JSON schemas, updated regularly via automated pipeline. Each entity includes metadata plus 5 comprehensive sections: introduction, geography, people & society, government, and economy. Historical snapshots are preserved indefinitely for tracking changes over time.
Cross-origin requests are fully supported. Access the API from any domain, including browser-based applications.
No API keys or tokens required. Make requests directly without any signup or authentication flow.
Make as many requests as needed. We ask that you implement reasonable caching and avoid unnecessary requests.
Distributed via CDN with edge caching for low-latency access worldwide. Typical response times under 100ms.
/metadata.jsonReturns a lightweight index containing structured metadata for all 250+ entities. Includes ISO codes, currencies, regional classifications, population, area, capital cities, and core statistics. Perfect for building search interfaces, dropdown selectors, or filter menus.
/name/{slug}.jsonReturns complete structured data for a specific country or territory. The slug is a lowercase, hyphenated version of the country name (e.g., "united-states", "cote-d-ivoire"). Includes comprehensive sections: introduction, geography, people & society, government, and economy.
/snapshots/{date}.jsonReturns a complete data dump of all entities at a specific point in time. Use "LATEST" for the most recent snapshot, or specify a timestamp in YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM format for historical data. Organized by category (countries, territories, other) with full structured data for every entity.
/confidence/{date}.jsonReturns validation and quality metrics for a specific data extraction. Use "LATEST" for the most recent report, or specify a timestamp in YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM format. Includes field-level confidence scores, missing data reports, and overall data quality statistics.
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# Get all countries metadata
curl https://countries.altoal.com/api/v1/metadata.json
# Get specific country
curl https://countries.altoal.com/api/v1/name/united-states.json
# Get complete dataset
curl https://countries.altoal.com/api/v1/snapshots/LATEST.jsonhttps://countries.altoal.com/api/v1