A good place to start is with Country Profiles (next box) in one of the collections of profiles. For example, Europa World Plus will give you historical, economic, and social background on a country, along with some key statistics. World Bank country profiles will have development-related information and data about a country.
For more suggestions on finding more information on international studies topics, see the International Studies research guide, the Country Profiles research guide, or send me an email!
By DFID - UK Department for International Development [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons