The CEPII has calculated and made available different measures of bilateral
distances (in kms) available for most countries across the world (225 countries
in the current version of the database). For most of them, different calculations
of “intra-national distances” are also available. There are two distinct files:
geo_cepii (geo_cepii.xls or geo_cepii.dta) contains geographical information
relevant to each country and dist_cepii (dist_cepii.xls or dist_cepii.dta)
contains the bilateral data, including the set of different distance variables and
common dummy variables used in gravity equations to identify particular links
between countries such as colonial past, common languages, contiguity. A common
use of those files is the estimation of gravity equations describing bilateral
trade flows. Other datasets have been proposed and provide geographical and
distance data, notably those of Jon Haveman, Vernon Henderson and Andrew
Rose. We try to improve upon the existing sets of variables in terms of geographical
coverage, measurement and number of variables provided.