Data Sources

1. Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts

Our primary data source is the State Department Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts series of documents, publicly published from 1965 to 2022. The documents list the assigned foreign service officers (FSOs,) and their officer positions, for each US embassy. These records were accessed via the Hathi Trust Digital Library.

2. World Bank Data - Percent of Female Population

We use the 1960-2022 World Bank population data on the female proportion of the total United States population to serve as a baseline for our estimates of the female proportion of FSOs overtime.

3. US Census Population Data

We use the 1790-1990 US Census Bureau Statistics on Population Totals By Race and Ethnicity to compare our estimates of the racial breakdown of the FSO population with that of the United States population overtime.

4. USA Facts

We also use the 1980-2021 USA Facts dataset of statistical estimates of the US population to compare our estimates of the racial breakdown of the FSO population with that of the United States populatio overtimen.

5. Census educational attainment - college graduates

Finally, we use the US Census Bureau Percent of People 25 Years and Over Who Have Completed High School or College, by Race, Hispanic Origin and Sex from 1940 to 2022 data to compare our estimates of gender and racial breakdown of the FSO population with that of the United States college graduate population overtime.