All the links below were correct at the time of publishing and are checked regularly. However, we are unable to guarantee that web addresses or the content on external web pages won't change. If you do find any broken links, please e-mail us with the details.

An increasing number of countries have a portal which leads to government web sites: Belgium: www.belgium.be; France: www.service-public.fr/langue/english/; Germany: www.bund.de/cln_163/EN/Home/homepage_node.html; UK: www.direct.gov.uk; USA: www.gpoaccess.gov.

For UK official statistics, see the Office for National Statistics web site: www.statistics.gov.uk. On UK taxes and benefits see the web sites of the Institute for Fiscal Studies: www.ifs.org.uk and the Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion: sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case. On UK government publications see the web site of the British Official Publications Current Awareness Service: www.keele.ac.uk/depts/li/eir/titles/bopcas.htm (subscribers only).

For EU statistics see the Eurostat web site: europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/.

On the USA, see the US government portal, www.gpoaccess.gov and the web sites of the National Academy of Social Insurance: www.nasi.org and the Brookings Institution: www.brookings.org.

A summary of systems of cash benefits worldwide can be downloaded via the US Social Security Administration web site: www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw. For details of pension schemes worldwide, see www.aarp.org/international/map - click on the map to find the country of interest.