Resources > Test Datasets and data archives

The following is a brief list of some of the best known sources of datasets that have been made available, often in connection with particular statistics books and articles. The list is then followed by a small sample of often cited test datasets.

Population datasets: Princeton University Office of Population Research data is obtainable from: https://oprdata.princeton.edu/archive/

Installed R packages include a large number of datasets used to provide examples of the use of the various functions, either in the base package or in additional installed packages such as MASS, spstat, tree, etc. In the case of the standard package “datasets” over 100 datasets are included, including the sets SWISS and IRIS3 datasets used in this document. In some instances the data tables have been reproduced in this Handbook for ease of access.

Climate datasets: IPCC : https://www.ipcc-data.org/

Time series datasets (Box-Jenkins): https://www.stat.purdue.edu/~chong/stat520/bjr-data/

StatLib: https://lib.stat.cmu.edu/datasets/ — a large number of datasets, mostly uploaded in the 1990s, including several that provide the data used in well-known books, such as Chatfield's (2003) Time Series Analysis and Diggle's (1990) Time series, together with links to other data archives.

UK Data Archive: Social sciences and humanities datasets, including medical: https://www.data-archive.ac.uk/

Datasets used in M J Crawley (2007, 2012) “The R Book” can be obtained from: http://www.bio.ic.ac.uk/research/mjcraw/therbook/

NIST StRD (Statistical Reference Datasets): https://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/strd/general/dataarchive.html

Swiss fertility data

This dataset is comprised of standardized fertility measure and socio-economic indicators for each of 47 French-speaking provinces of Switzerland at about 1888. There are 47 observations on 6 variables, each of which is in percent, i.e., in [0,100]. All variables but ‘Fertility’ give proportions of the population.

Fertility	Ig, ‘common standardized fertility measure’
Agriculture	% of males involved in agriculture as occupation
Examination	% draftees receiving highest mark on army examination
Education	% education beyond primary school for draftees
Catholic	% ‘catholic’ (as opposed to ‘protestant’)
Infant.Mortality	live births who live less than 1 year

	Fertility	Agriculture	Examination	Education	Catholic	Infant.Mortality
Courtelary	80.2	17	15	12	9.96	22.2
Delemont	83.1	45.1	6	9	84.84	22.2
Franches-Mnt	92.5	39.7	5	5	93.4	20.2
Moutier	85.8	36.5	12	7	33.77	20.3
Neuveville	76.9	43.5	17	15	5.16	20.6
Porrentruy	76.1	35.3	9	7	90.57	26.6
Broye	83.8	70.2	16	7	92.85	23.6
Glane	92.4	67.8	14	8	97.16	24.9
Gruyere	82.4	53.3	12	7	97.67	21
Sarine	82.9	45.2	16	13	91.38	24.4
Veveyse	87.1	64.5	14	6	98.61	24.5
Aigle	64.1	62	21	12	8.52	16.5
Aubonne	66.9	67.5	14	7	2.27	19.1
Avenches	68.9	60.7	19	12	4.43	22.7
Cossonay	61.7	69.3	22	5	2.82	18.7
Echallens	68.3	72.6	18	2	24.2	21.2
Grandson	71.7	34	17	8	3.3	20
Lausanne	55.7	19.4	26	28	12.11	20.2
La Vallee	54.3	15.2	31	20	2.15	10.8
Lavaux	65.1	73	19	9	2.84	20
Morges	65.5	59.8	22	10	5.23	18
Moudon	65	55.1	14	3	4.52	22.4
Nyone	56.6	50.9	22	12	15.14	16.7
Orbe	57.4	54.1	20	6	4.2	15.3
Oron	72.5	71.2	12	1	2.4	21
Payerne	74.2	58.1	14	8	5.23	23.8
Paysd'enhaut	72	63.5	6	3	2.56	18
Rolle	60.5	60.8	16	10	7.72	16.3
Vevey	58.3	26.8	25	19	18.46	20.9
Yverdon	65.4	49.5	15	8	6.1	22.5
Conthey	75.5	85.9	3	2	99.71	15.1
Entremont	69.3	84.9	7	6	99.68	19.8
Herens	77.3	89.7	5	2	100	18.3
Martigwy	70.5	78.2	12	6	98.96	19.4
Monthey	79.4	64.9	7	3	98.22	20.2
St Maurice	65	75.9	9	9	99.06	17.8
Sierre	92.2	84.6	3	3	99.46	16.3
Sion	79.3	63.1	13	13	96.83	18.1
Boudry	70.4	38.4	26	12	5.62	20.3
La Chauxdfnd	65.7	7.7	29	11	13.79	20.5
Le Locle	72.7	16.7	22	13	11.22	18.9
Neuchatel	64.4	17.6	35	32	16.92	23
Val de Ruz	77.6	37.6	15	7	4.97	20
ValdeTravers	67.6	18.7	25	7	8.65	19.5
V. De Geneve	35	1.2	37	53	42.34	18
Rive Droite	44.7	46.6	16	29	50.43	18.2
Rive Gauche	42.8	27.7	22	29	58.33	19.3

Iris data

This famous (Fisher's or Anderson's) iris data set gives the measurements in centimeters of the variables sepal length and width and petal length and width, respectively, for 50 flowers from each of 3 species of iris. The species are Iris setosa, versicolor, and virginica. There are 150 cases (rows) and 5 variables (columns) named Sepal.Length, Sepal.Width, Petal.Length, Petal.Width, and Species.

Sample	Sepal.Length	Sepal.Width	Petal.Length	Petal.Width	Species
1	5.1	3.5	1.4	0.2	setosa
2	4.9	3	1.4	0.2	setosa
3	4.7	3.2	1.3	0.2	setosa
4	4.6	3.1	1.5	0.2	setosa
5	5	3.6	1.4	0.2	setosa
6	5.4	3.9	1.7	0.4	setosa
7	4.6	3.4	1.4	0.3	setosa
8	5	3.4	1.5	0.2	setosa
9	4.4	2.9	1.4	0.2	setosa
10	4.9	3.1	1.5	0.1	setosa
11	5.4	3.7	1.5	0.2	setosa
12	4.8	3.4	1.6	0.2	setosa
13	4.8	3	1.4	0.1	setosa
14	4.3	3	1.1	0.1	setosa
15	5.8	4	1.2	0.2	setosa
16	5.7	4.4	1.5	0.4	setosa
17	5.4	3.9	1.3	0.4	setosa
18	5.1	3.5	1.4	0.3	setosa
19	5.7	3.8	1.7	0.3	setosa
20	5.1	3.8	1.5	0.3	setosa
21	5.4	3.4	1.7	0.2	setosa
22	5.1	3.7	1.5	0.4	setosa
23	4.6	3.6	1	0.2	setosa
24	5.1	3.3	1.7	0.5	setosa
25	4.8	3.4	1.9	0.2	setosa
26	5	3	1.6	0.2	setosa
27	5	3.4	1.6	0.4	setosa
28	5.2	3.5	1.5	0.2	setosa
29	5.2	3.4	1.4	0.2	setosa
30	4.7	3.2	1.6	0.2	setosa
31	4.8	3.1	1.6	0.2	setosa
32	5.4	3.4	1.5	0.4	setosa
33	5.2	4.1	1.5	0.1	setosa
34	5.5	4.2	1.4	0.2	setosa
35	4.9	3.1	1.5	0.2	setosa
36	5	3.2	1.2	0.2	setosa
37	5.5	3.5	1.3	0.2	setosa
38	4.9	3.6	1.4	0.1	setosa
39	4.4	3	1.3	0.2	setosa
40	5.1	3.4	1.5	0.2	setosa
41	5	3.5	1.3	0.3	setosa
42	4.5	2.3	1.3	0.3	setosa
43	4.4	3.2	1.3	0.2	setosa
44	5	3.5	1.6	0.6	setosa
45	5.1	3.8	1.9	0.4	setosa
46	4.8	3	1.4	0.3	setosa
47	5.1	3.8	1.6	0.2	setosa
48	4.6	3.2	1.4	0.2	setosa
49	5.3	3.7	1.5	0.2	setosa
50	5	3.3	1.4	0.2	setosa
51	7	3.2	4.7	1.4	versicolor
52	6.4	3.2	4.5	1.5	versicolor
53	6.9	3.1	4.9	1.5	versicolor
54	5.5	2.3	4	1.3	versicolor
55	6.5	2.8	4.6	1.5	versicolor
56	5.7	2.8	4.5	1.3	versicolor
57	6.3	3.3	4.7	1.6	versicolor
58	4.9	2.4	3.3	1	versicolor
59	6.6	2.9	4.6	1.3	versicolor
60	5.2	2.7	3.9	1.4	versicolor
61	5	2	3.5	1	versicolor
62	5.9	3	4.2	1.5	versicolor
63	6	2.2	4	1	versicolor
64	6.1	2.9	4.7	1.4	versicolor
65	5.6	2.9	3.6	1.3	versicolor
66	6.7	3.1	4.4	1.4	versicolor
67	5.6	3	4.5	1.5	versicolor
68	5.8	2.7	4.1	1	versicolor
69	6.2	2.2	4.5	1.5	versicolor
70	5.6	2.5	3.9	1.1	versicolor
71	5.9	3.2	4.8	1.8	versicolor
72	6.1	2.8	4	1.3	versicolor
73	6.3	2.5	4.9	1.5	versicolor
74	6.1	2.8	4.7	1.2	versicolor
75	6.4	2.9	4.3	1.3	versicolor
76	6.6	3	4.4	1.4	versicolor
77	6.8	2.8	4.8	1.4	versicolor
78	6.7	3	5	1.7	versicolor
79	6	2.9	4.5	1.5	versicolor
80	5.7	2.6	3.5	1	versicolor
81	5.5	2.4	3.8	1.1	versicolor
82	5.5	2.4	3.7	1	versicolor
83	5.8	2.7	3.9	1.2	versicolor
84	6	2.7	5.1	1.6	versicolor
85	5.4	3	4.5	1.5	versicolor
86	6	3.4	4.5	1.6	versicolor
87	6.7	3.1	4.7	1.5	versicolor
88	6.3	2.3	4.4	1.3	versicolor
89	5.6	3	4.1	1.3	versicolor
90	5.5	2.5	4	1.3	versicolor
91	5.5	2.6	4.4	1.2	versicolor
92	6.1	3	4.6	1.4	versicolor
93	5.8	2.6	4	1.2	versicolor
94	5	2.3	3.3	1	versicolor
95	5.6	2.7	4.2	1.3	versicolor
96	5.7	3	4.2	1.2	versicolor
97	5.7	2.9	4.2	1.3	versicolor
98	6.2	2.9	4.3	1.3	versicolor
99	5.1	2.5	3	1.1	versicolor
100	5.7	2.8	4.1	1.3	versicolor
101	6.3	3.3	6	2.5	virginica
102	5.8	2.7	5.1	1.9	virginica
103	7.1	3	5.9	2.1	virginica
104	6.3	2.9	5.6	1.8	virginica
105	6.5	3	5.8	2.2	virginica
106	7.6	3	6.6	2.1	virginica
107	4.9	2.5	4.5	1.7	virginica
108	7.3	2.9	6.3	1.8	virginica
109	6.7	2.5	5.8	1.8	virginica
110	7.2	3.6	6.1	2.5	virginica
111	6.5	3.2	5.1	2	virginica
112	6.4	2.7	5.3	1.9	virginica
113	6.8	3	5.5	2.1	virginica
114	5.7	2.5	5	2	virginica
115	5.8	2.8	5.1	2.4	virginica
116	6.4	3.2	5.3	2.3	virginica
117	6.5	3	5.5	1.8	virginica
118	7.7	3.8	6.7	2.2	virginica
119	7.7	2.6	6.9	2.3	virginica
120	6	2.2	5	1.5	virginica
121	6.9	3.2	5.7	2.3	virginica
122	5.6	2.8	4.9	2	virginica
123	7.7	2.8	6.7	2	virginica
124	6.3	2.7	4.9	1.8	virginica
125	6.7	3.3	5.7	2.1	virginica
126	7.2	3.2	6	1.8	virginica
127	6.2	2.8	4.8	1.8	virginica
128	6.1	3	4.9	1.8	virginica
129	6.4	2.8	5.6	2.1	virginica
130	7.2	3	5.8	1.6	virginica
131	7.4	2.8	6.1	1.9	virginica
132	7.9	3.8	6.4	2	virginica
133	6.4	2.8	5.6	2.2	virginica
134	6.3	2.8	5.1	1.5	virginica
135	6.1	2.6	5.6	1.4	virginica
136	7.7	3	6.1	2.3	virginica
137	6.3	3.4	5.6	2.4	virginica
138	6.4	3.1	5.5	1.8	virginica
139	6	3	4.8	1.8	virginica
140	6.9	3.1	5.4	2.1	virginica
141	6.7	3.1	5.6	2.4	virginica
142	6.9	3.1	5.1	2.3	virginica
143	5.8	2.7	5.1	1.9	virginica
144	6.8	3.2	5.9	2.3	virginica
145	6.7	3.3	5.7	2.5	virginica
146	6.7	3	5.2	2.3	virginica
147	6.3	2.5	5	1.9	virginica
148	6.5	3	5.2	2	virginica
149	6.2	3.4	5.4	2.3	virginica
150	5.9	3	5.1	1.8	virginica

Michelson-Morley data

The classical data of Michelson and Morley on the speed of light. The data consists of five experiments, each consisting of 20 consecutive ‘runs’. The response is the speed of light measurement, suitably coded. The dataset contains the following components: Expt: The experiment number, from 1 to 5. Run: The run number within each experiment. Speed: Speed-of-light measurement. The data is here viewed as a randomized block experiment with ‘experiment’ and ‘run’ as the factors. ‘run’ may also be considered a quantitative variate to account for linear (or polynomial) changes in the measurement over the course of a single experiment.

Expt	Run	Speed
1	1	850
1	2	740
1	3	900
1	4	1070
1	5	930
1	6	850
1	7	950
1	8	980
1	9	980
1	10	880
1	11	1000
1	12	980
1	13	930
1	14	650
1	15	760
1	16	810
1	17	1000
1	18	1000
1	19	960
1	20	960
2	1	960
2	2	940
2	3	960
2	4	940
2	5	880
2	6	800
2	7	850
2	8	880
2	9	900
2	10	840
2	11	830
2	12	790
2	13	810
2	14	880
2	15	880
2	16	830
2	17	800
2	18	790
2	19	760
2	20	800
3	1	880
3	2	880
3	3	880
3	4	860
3	5	720
3	6	720
3	7	620
3	8	860
3	9	970
3	10	950
3	11	880
3	12	910
3	13	850
3	14	870
3	15	840
3	16	840
3	17	850
3	18	840
3	19	840
3	20	840
4	1	890
4	2	810
4	3	810
4	4	820
4	5	800
4	6	770
4	7	760
4	8	740
4	9	750
4	10	760
4	11	910
4	12	920
4	13	890
4	14	860
4	15	880
4	16	720
4	17	840
4	18	850
4	19	850
4	20	780
5	1	890
5	2	840
5	3	780
5	4	810
5	5	760
5	6	810
5	7	790
5	8	810
5	9	820
5	10	850
5	11	870
5	12	870
5	13	810
5	14	740
5	15	810
5	16	940
5	17	950
5	18	800
5	19	810
5	20	870

Time Series Data Sets from Box, Jenkins, and Reinsel (1974)

The series below shows Series G used in the Box-Jenkins-Reinsel book, which is analyzed in our discussion of ARIMA models.

Series G. International Airline Passengers: Monthly Totals, 1949-1960 (order is row-wise, row 1 = 1949)

112 118 132 129 121 135 148 148 136 119 104 118

115 126 141 135 125 149 170 170 158 133 114 140

145 150 178 163 172 178 199 199 184 162 146 166

171 180 193 181 183 218 230 242 209 191 172 194

196 196 236 235 229 243 264 272 237 211 180 201

204 188 235 227 234 264 302 293 259 229 203 229

242 233 267 269 270 315 364 347 312 274 237 278

284 277 317 313 318 374 413 405 355 306 271 306

315 301 356 348 355 422 465 467 404 347 305 336

340 318 362 348 363 435 491 505 404 359 310 337

360 342 406 396 420 472 548 559 463 407 362 405

417 391 419 461 472 535 622 606 508 461 390 432