World Bank

SUMMARY

The World Bank's Open Data is an initiative from the the World Bank Group to produce reliable data about its member countries, including a number of macro, financial, and sector databases. Their datasets include ones focused on development, aid effectiveness, climate change, economy, education, debt, infrastructure, etc. The World Bank also has a World Development Indicators (WDI) database, which is the premier compilation of cross country comparable data on development and is the primary collection of development indicators. WDI specifically contains 1,400 time series indicators from 217 economies, with much of that data going back more than 50 years. Data for Open Data and WDI is compiled from statistical systems of member countries and officially recognized international sources. Most social and economic data are updated annually or less often and some economic and financial data are updated quarterly. The WDI database is updated quarterly, sometimes more often.

The data team uses World Bank Open Data and WDI for a number of series about education, agriculture, aid, gender issues, environment, finances, economics, and development. Most importantly, WB databases are used for GDP and GDPPC. Example series from the World Bank include but are not limited to, SeriesAgFoodProductIndex, SeriesAidRec%GNI, SeriesCompanyValue%GDP, SeriesExportImport%GDP.

STEPS TO PULL DATA FROM WORLD BANK

Step 1. To pull data from the world bank, navigate to data.worldbank.org

Step 2. To find the series, you can type in the search bar, click <Country> or click <Indicator>.

Step 3. Go to step 4 if clicked on <Country> or to step 7 if clicked on <Indicator>.

World Bank Data homepage

Step 4. If clicked on <Country>, you can select an individual country or options under various categories, such as <Region> and <Income levels>. This example will use the <High Income> category.

Countries and Economies main page

Step 5. If a category is selected, the following example screen of <High Income> will formulate. From here, select the relevant topic/theme/SDG Goal, then click on the desired indicator. Then skip to steps 10-12, which show how to download an indicator.

High Income example page

Step 6. If an individual country is selected, the following example screen will formulate. From here, select the relevant topic/theme/SDG Goal, then click on the desired indicator. Then skip to steps 10-12, which show how to download an indicator.

Afghanistan example page

Step 7. If clicked on <Indicator>, navigate to the relevant category of the desired indicator or type in the search bar. For this example, click on the <Climate Change> category.

Indicators main page

Step 8. The following page will populate. Click on <Access to electricity (% of population)> as an indicator example.

Example category from indicators page

Step 9. Clicking on <Access to electricity (% of population)> will lead to this page.

Access to electricity indicator

Step 10. If a more specific variable is desired, select one of the options of the right side. As an example, <Access to electricity, urban (% of urban population)> is showed here.

Access to electricity indicator

Step 11. Before downloading, select desired time range on the sliding scale beneath the graph.

Step 12. On the right side of the graph, under <Download>, click <EXCEL>. An excel data set will immediately download. You may also click <WDI Tables> to see the data in a slightly different format.

Download Indicator

STEPS TO PULL DATA FROM WORLD BANK WDI (WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS)

Step 1. To pull data from the World Bank's World Development Indicators database, navigate to https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators

Step 2. In order to pull data, you'll need to first make selections regarding the database to pull from, countries, series, and time. These variables are on the left hand side.

World Bank WDI main page

Step 3. First, select a database. This example will stay with WDI.

WDI page with database options

Step 4. Second, select the countries to include in the data. To choose all countries, click the checkbox above the list of country names.

WDI page with country options

Step 5. Third, select series from keywords or alphabetical list. This example will choose <Access to electricity, (% of population)>.

WDI page with series options

Step 6. Finally, select time as range of years. To choose all years, click the checkbox above the list of years.

.

WDI page with year options

Step 7. When all variables have been selected, click <Apply Changes>.

WDI page with "Apply Changes"

Step 8. The following preview page will formulate. You can also adjust the layout on the left side under the <Layout> tab, and you can preview data in different formats by clicking on <Table>, <Chart>, and <Map>.

To download, click <Download Options> in right hand corner. Then click <Excel> and an Excel dataset will immediately download.

WDI page with download options

Notes for Updates in Jul. 2024

We updated 82 series from WDI, 71 of them are preprocessors and 11 non preprocessors.

Variable	Definition	Units	Years	UsedInPreprocessor	UsedInPreprocessorFileName	Code in Source	Decimal Places	Formula
ArmsImp%TotImp	Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values)	Percent	1960-2022	1	ECONOMY	MS.MIL.MPRT.KD	3	%'NE.IMP.GNFS.CD'
XDebtPNG%GDP	External debt, private non-guaranteed, as percentage of gross domestic product	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.DOD.DPNG.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XDebtPPG%GDP	External debt, public and publicly guaranteed, as percentage of gross domestic product	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.DOD.DPPG.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XFlowsIDA%GDP	Net flows from IDA as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.NFL.MIDA.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XFlowsIMFNonCon%GDP	Net nonconcessional flows from IMF as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.NFL.IMFN.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XIMFCredit%GDP	IMF credits as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.DOD.DIMF.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XIncPayments%GDP	Income payments as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	BM.GSR.FCTY.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XPortBonds%GDP	Portfolio investment in bonds (PPG and PNG) as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.NFL.BOND.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XPortEquity%GDP	Portfolio investment in equity as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	BX.PEF.TOTL.CD.WD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XReserves%GDP	Gross international reserves as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	FI.RES.TOTL.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XFlowsIMFCon%GDP	Net concessional flows from IMF as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.NFL.IMFC.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XIncReceipts%GDP	Income receipts as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	BX.GSR.FCTY.CD	3	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XFlowsIBRD%GDP	Net flows from IBRD as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.NFL.MIBR.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XWBLoans%GDP	IBRD loans and IDA credits as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.DOD.MWBG.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
GovtCurRev%GDP	Current government revenue as % of GDP	Percent	1972-2022	1	ECONOMY	GC.REV.XGRT.GD.ZS	3	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
ExportServices%GDP	Exports of services as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	BX.GSR.NFSV.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
ExportsMerchandise%GDP	Exports of merchandise as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	TX.VAL.MRCH.CD.WT	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
ImportServices%GDP	Imports of Services as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	BM.GSR.NFSV.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
ImportsMerchandise%GDP	Imports of merchandiseas % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	TM.VAL.MRCH.CD.WT	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XWorkerRemitPaid%GDP	Worker remittances by country where paid as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2023	1	ECONOMY	BM.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XWorkerRemitReceived%GDP	Worker remittances received by country as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2023	1	ECONOMY	BX.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
XDebt%GDP	External debt as percentage of gross domestic product	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.DOD.DECT.CD	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CD'
NetForeignAssets%GDP	Net Foreign Assets (current LCU) as a percent of GDP.	Percent	1960-2023	0		FM.AST.NFRG.CN	4	%'NY.GDP.MKTP.CN'
Labor	Labor force size	Millions	1991-2023	1	POPULATION	SL.TLF.TOTL.IN	4	/1000000
PopulationUrban	Urban population	Millions	1960-2023	1	POPULATION	SP.URB.TOTL	4	/1000000
GDPCurDol	Gross Domestic Product in Current US$	Billion $	1960-2023	1	ENERGY	NY.GDP.MKTP.CD	4	/1000000000
Xdebt	External long-term (more than 1 year) debt: public, publically guaranteed and priv nonguaranteed	Billion $	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	DT.DOD.DLXF.CD	4	/1000000000
LaborFemale%	Portion of labor force made up by women	Percent	1991-2023	1	POPULATION	SL.TLF.TOTL.FE.ZS	4
LaborSecInd%Tot	Labor in industry as % of total	Percent	1991-2022	0		SL.IND.EMPL.ZS	4
LaborSecSer%Tot	Labor in services as % of total	Percent	1991-2022	0		SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS	4
VaddInd%	Value added in industry as percent of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	NV.IND.TOTL.ZS	3
OresMetsIm%MerchIm	Ores and Metals imports as % of merchandise imports	Percent	1962-2023	1	ECONOMY	TM.VAL.MMTL.ZS.UN	4
GovtDebt%GDP	Central government debt as % of GDP	Percent	1970-1971,1989-2022	1	ECONOMY	GC.DOD.TOTL.GD.ZS	4
VaddMan%	Value added in manufacturing as percent of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	NV.IND.MANF.ZS	3
PopForeign%	Foreign population as % of total population	Percent	1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015	0		SM.POP.TOTL.ZS	4
LaborAgriSector	Agricultural labor force as % of total employment, ISIC multiple revisions	Percent	1991-2022	1	ECONOMY	SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS	3
GenderUnpaidDomesticWorkTimeFemale	Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, female (% of 24 hour day).	Percent	2000-2022	0		SG.TIM.UWRK.FE	2
GenderUnpaidDomesticWorkTimeMale	Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, male (% of 24 hour day).	Percent	2000-2022	1	POPULATION	SG.TIM.UWRK.MA	2
IncBelow2D15c%	Percentage of the population living on less than $2.15 a day at 2017 international prices, estimation by World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform.	Percent	1963-2023	0		SI.POV.DDAY	4
IncBelow3D65c%	Percentage of the population living on less than $3.65 a day at 2017 international prices, estimation by World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform.	Percent	1963-2023	0		SI.POV.LMIC	4
IncBelow6D85c%	Percentage of the population living on less than $6.85 a day at 2017 international prices, estimation by World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform.	Percent	1963-2023	0		SI.POV.UMIC	4
PovGap2D15cperDay	Poverty gap at $2.15 per day (2017PPP), percent, estimation by World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform	Percent	1963-2023	1	ECONOMY	SI.POV.GAPS	4
PovGap3D65perDay	Poverty gap at $3.65 per day (2017PPP), percent, estimation by World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform	Percent	1963-2023	1	ECONOMY	SI.POV.LMIC.GP	4
PovGap6D85cperDay	Poverty gap at $6.85 per day (2017PPP), percent, estimation by World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform	Percent	1963-2023	1	ECONOMY	SI.POV.UMIC.GP	4
ExportGoodSer%	Exports of goods and services as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS	4
EnElecTransLoss%	Electric power transmission and distribution losses (% of output)	Percent	1960-2014	1	INFRASTRUCTURE	EG.ELC.LOSS.ZS	4
GovtEdPub%GDP	Educational expenditures (public) as percent of GDP	Percent	1970-2023	1	ECONOMY	SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS	4
GovWBDoingBusinessCostofStarting	Cost of registring a business as a percent of per capita income	Percent	2003-2019	1	SOCIOPOL	IC.REG.COST.PC.ZS	4
GovtMil%GDPWDI	Military expenditures (as percent of GDP). Taiwan, China values filled by SIPRI.	Percent	1960-2022	1	ECONOMY	MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS	4
GovCon%GDP	Government (general) final consumption as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	NE.CON.GOVT.ZS	3
GovExpense%GDP	Government expense as % of GDP (compare with govt expenditures)	Percent	1972-2022	1	ECONOMY	GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS	3
ImportGoodSer%	Imports of goods and services as % of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	NE.IMP.GNFS.ZS	4
EnElecConsPerCap	Electricity consumption per capita	KWH/Cap	1960-2019	1	INFRASTRUCTURE	EG.USE.ELEC.KH.PC	4
InvestGrCapForm%GDP	Gross capital formation (Investment), percent of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	NE.GDI.TOTL.ZS	3
XFDIInflows%GDP	Foreign direct investment net inflow as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS	4
XFDIOutflows%GDP	Foreign direct investment net outflow as % of GDP	Percent	1970-2022	1	ECONOMY	BM.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS	3
IncShareL20%	Income share of poorest 20% of population	Percent	1963-2023	1	ECONOMY	SI.DST.FRST.20	3
LaborUnemploy%	Labor unemployment, % of labor force	Percent	1991-2023	1	POPULATION	SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS	3
TaxImportDuties%Rev	Customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue)	Percent	1972-2023	1	ECONOMY	GC.TAX.IMPT.ZS	4
OresMetsEx%MerchEx	Ores and Metals exports as % of merchandise exports	Percent	1962-2023	1	ECONOMY	TX.VAL.MMTL.ZS.UN	4
PopContrUse%WDI	Prevalence of contraceptive use	Percent	1961,1963,1965-2021	0		SP.DYN.CONU.ZS	4
EnElecAccess%National	Access to electric energy National (% of population)	percentage	1990-2022	1	INFRASTRUCTURE	EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS	4
EnElecAccess%Rural	Access to electricity in Rural areas (% of population)	percentage	1990-2022	1	INFRASTRUCTURE	EG.ELC.ACCS.RU.ZS	4
EnElecAccess%Urban	Access to electricity in Urban areas (% of population)	percentage	1990-2022	1	INFRASTRUCTURE	EG.ELC.ACCS.UR.ZS	4
MalnChil%WeightWB	Percentage of children under 5 malnourished based on weight; US benchmark	Percent	1983,1985-2023	1	AGRICULTURE	SH.STA.MALN.ZS	4
TaxGoodSer%CurRev	Taxes on goods and services as % of total govt revenue	Percent	1972-2022	1	ECONOMY	GC.TAX.GSRV.RV.ZS	3
TaxSocSec%CurRev	Social security taxes as % of total govt revenue	Percent	1972-2022	1	ECONOMY	GC.REV.SOCL.ZS	3
GiniExtended	Gini index of income inequality (lower = more equal)	Index	1963-2023	1	ECONOMY	SI.POV.GINI	3
ICTInternet%Pop	Percent of population on-line	Percent	1960,1965,1970,1975-2022	1	SOCIOPOL	IT.NET.USER.ZS	4
LaborAgr%TotFemale	Employees, agriculture, female as % of female employment	Percent	1991-2022	1	POPULATION	SL.AGR.EMPL.FE.ZS	4
VaddAg%	Value added in agriculture as percent of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS	3
VaddSer%	Value added in services as percent of GDP	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	NV.SRV.TOTL.ZS	3
LaborAgr%TotMale	Employees, agriculture, males as % of male employment	Percent	1991-2022	1	POPULATION	SL.AGR.EMPL.MA.ZS	4
XCurActBal%GDP	Current account balance (% of GDP)	Percent	1960-2023	1	ECONOMY	BN.CAB.XOKA.GD.ZS	3
MaternalMortalityRatio	Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births	Ratio	2000-2020	1	POPULATION	SH.STA.MMRT	2
EnvPMWDI	PM2.5 air pollution, mean annual exposure (micrograms per cubic meter)	micrograms per cubic meter	1990,1995,2000,2005,2010-2019	1	ENVIRONMENT	EN.ATM.PM25.MC.M3	5
ChildStuntingPercentWDI	Stunting (Height for age) amongst children aged under the age of 5	Percent	1983,1985-2023	1	HEALTH	SH.STA.STNT.ZS	5
HealthMalarBedNetsWDI	Use of insecticide-treated bed nets (% of under-5 population)	Percent	1999-2021	1	HEALTH	SH.MLR.NETS.ZS	3
AidRecGrant%TotRev	Grants and other revenue include grants from other foreign governments, international organizations, and other government units;	Percent	1972-2022	1	ECONOMY	GC.REV.GOTR.ZS	3
IncBelowNPL%WDI	Population below national poverty line	Percent	1985-2023	1	ECONOMY	SI.POV.NAHC	1
ICTImport%Imp	Imports of ICT goods as % of total goods imports	Percent	2000-2021	0		TM.VAL.ICTG.ZS.UN	2
ICTExport%Exp	Exports of ICT goods as % of total goods exports	Percent	2000-2021	0		TX.VAL.ICTG.ZS.UN	2

1. Download CSV file from https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0037712/World-Development-Indicators
2. Open the WDICSV.csv file.
3. Use the "Code in Source" from the DataDict and "Indicator Code" from WDICSV file to preprare the series.
4. Be care of the "Formula", if there is a "%XXXX"(the XXXX is the "Indicator Code"), then you need to use the series divide the series after "%". The series after "%" also in the WDICSV.
   1. Please keep in mind *100 after you finish the division to make it in "Percent" instead of decimal.
   2. Always applying "round" function after you applied multiplying 100.
5. The "Years" for some series are discountinued, please remove the years with all "Nulls" before importing.
6. Blending with Old data in IFsHistSeries:
   1. A country that has data in the previous release but not anymore. For this case, we need to bring the data in unless we have a solid proof to say they delete a country's data on purpose. For example, in the table GovCon%GDP, Nigeria used to have values, but the new table has all nulls for it because WDI somehow removes values for Nigeria.
   2. Some historical years of data are missing completely for all countries. WDI does this every now and then. For example, for certain tables, it used to have coverage back to 1960, then along the updates WDI only offers data back to 1980 or even 2000.
7. If you want to try to use python scripts to pull the data, you may access the scripts from here.