Statistics are pieces of information in the form of numbers. Statistics could be a percentage, a rate, an average, a dollar amount, a count of something, or many other more complicated numbers.
In trying to find the information you need for your project, you may run into terms or ideas that you are unfamiliar with. Here are some sites to decode the technical talk about statistics that may be confusing.
Glossary of Statistical Terms - An alphabetical list of statistic terms and their meanings from the Instistute for Statists Education.
Statistical Abstract of the United States - An organized and easy to search and browse collection of government statistics about the United States. A good overview of some of the more common statistics looked up.
Histoical Statistics of the United States - Older data about the United States, and information about changes over time. Years available are different for each reports, but often go back to the 1800's, some even to the 1790's.
Gallup - Gallup is an independant research company that runs polls and publishes that information, as well as workign on a consulting bases to help other businesses and organizations gather statistics. They have US and international Statistics.
Find statistics about people, include age, birth and death rates, race, families, living arrangements, and marriage, housing, immigration, crime rates, poverty and income, veterans, voting registration, disabilities, and many more topics.
US Census Bureau - One stop for almost all questions about people in the United States. Most data is collected every ten years, though smaller surveys are done more often for many of the most important indicators.
STATS America - Search for population statistics by state and county. Compare up to four places side by side. From the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.
Bureau of Justice Statistics - Use this site to find statics about crime in America.
Eurostat - Statistics kept by the European Union. A wide range of statistics are arranged on the website by theme.