The Statesman’s Yearbook Online

Explore this historical resource today

Now in its 146th edition, it will surprise many to know that the current Editor, Barry Turner, is one of only 7 people to hold the title. It is perhaps more surprising to learn that throughout its history, The Statesman’s Yearbook has been published every year, even through both World Wars. For the first time, the complete archive is now available online: a wonderful collection of interesting and useful facts and figures through the generations. Simply seeing how the book’s jacket alone has changed over the decades, gives a sense of how the world, and of course the book itself, has altered. Click on the decade you want to browse on the left-hand side of this page. Not sure where to start? Why not browse the editors’ prefaces which give you a sense of the state of the world at the time? Or, why not take a look at the first edition and compare it to the world today?

Highlights from the Archive:

Principal Events of the War, 1918 edition
Preface to the first edition, 1864 edition
Area and Population of the Principal States of the World, 1878 edition
Map of Railways, Navigable Waters and Steamboat Routes in North America, 1901 edition
Map of the New Federal District and the Capital of the Australian Commonwealth, 1910 edition
Germany, 1945 edition
Hong Kong, 1997 edition
The World's Navies, 1915 edition

The Statesman’s Yearbook History

11^th December 1862 - Contract signed between Macmillan and Frederick Martin at Alexander Macmillan’s house in Henrietta Street, London
20^th January 1864 – The first edition of The Statesman’s Year-Book published
1879 – Alexander Macmillan secured for Martin an annual pension of £100 from Lord Beaconsfield, then Prime Minister, who was ‘struck by the usefulness’ of The Statesman’s Year-Book
October 1882 – Martin lost a large portion of revised proofs on a railway carriage
15^th December 1882 – Martin assigns the copyright to Macmillan, where it has remained ever since
27^th January 1883 – Martin died
1884 – John Scott-Keltie, Editor of Nature, became Editor of The Statesman’s Year-Book
1890 – Scott-Keltie reorganized the book, so that it started with the British Empire
1892 – Maps are introduced to illustrate key world events including the Panama Canal Schemes in 1902 and 1911
1906 – The United States of America is removed from ‘foreign countries’ and given its own Part in the book
1919 - Mortimer Epstein becomes joint Editor (Scott-Keltie is Editor in name only)
12^th January 1927 – Scott-Keltie died and editorship passed officially to Epstein
1940-1945 – The book continued to publish annually in spite of restrictions in the flow of statistics in “the countries suffering from the blighting presence of the Nazi Barbarians”
23rd June 1946 – Epstein died
1946 – The UN is introduced and given pride of place at the front of the book
1946 – S.H.Steinberg became Editor
28^th January 1969 – Steinberg died
1969 - John Paxton became Editor
1969 – New type and page size introduced
1978 – The book is reorganized: countries are now simply ordered A to Z
1984 – A chronology of the previous year’s major political events was introduced
1990 – Paxton retired and Brian Hunter became the Editor
1997 – Brian Hunter retired and Barry Turner became the Editor
1998 – A database is introduced to facilitate the editorial processes and typesetting of the book
1998 – The Statesman’s Year-Book changed its name to The Statesman’s Yearbook
August 2006 – The Statesman’s Yearbook Online was launched, containing half a million more words than the printed book
2006 – New, larger page size introduced
September 2009 – The complete archives were published online