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A snapshot of America and its peoplePublished annually by the federal government since 1878, The Statistical Abstract of the United States is the best known statistical reference publication in the country, and perhaps the world. You'll find it behind nearly every reference desk in U.S. libraries as the authoritative go-to source. Librarians value the Statistical Abstract as both an answer book and a guide to statistical sources. As a comprehensive collection of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States, it is a snapshot of America and its people.In the spring of 2011, the Census Bureau announced that the edition that year would be the last one produced at government expense. Despite protests from librarians and journalists and despite petitions to Congress, the Census Bureau unit that published the Statistical Abstract was eliminated.