CIA—The World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Provides basic demographic, economic, and political data for countries of the world.

GlobalEDGE: https://globaledge.msu.edu

This portal has a wealth of country information.

Political Risk Yearbook

This database contains reports that analyze political and economic risks in over 100 countries.

In terms of corporate rankings, you can direct students to Fortune’s Global 500 information. Here is the link to the data that is provided free of charge: