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World Development Indicators
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<h2 id="data-sources">Data sources</h2> <p>A share of the indicators in WDI come from <a href="/facts/World_Bank_Group/9z4A2PDl">World Bank Group</a> surveys and data collection efforts, but the majority are based on data originally collected, compiled and published by other sources, including other international organizations such as UN specialized agencies (sometimes in cooperation with the World Bank), national statistical offices, organizations with a specific research or monitoring focus, the private sector, and academic studies. </p> <h2 id="accessing-the-data">Accessing the data</h2> <p>The World Bank’s Open Data site provides access to the WDI database free of charge to all users. Users can browse the data by Country, Indicators, Topics, and via the <a href="http://datacatalog.worldbank.org/">Data Catalog</a>. The WDI database can be accessed directly via <a href="http://databank.worldbank.org/data/source/world-development-indicators">DataBank</a>, a query tool where users can select series, economies, and time periods, and do bulk downloads in Excel or CSV, or via <a href="https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/topics/125589-developer-information">API</a>. In addition, data can be programmatically accessed using Stata, R, and Python modules. </p> <h2 id="wdi-and-the-sustainable-development-goals">WDI and the Sustainable Development Goals</h2> <p>World Development Indicators takes a comprehensive view of the world and currently includes many of the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/indicators-list/">official SDG indicators</a> as well as other data that are relevant to SDGs. For example, in addition to official indicators on the income/consumption growth of the <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.SPR.PC40.ZG">bottom 40 percent of the population</a> relative to the <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.SPR.PCAP.ZG">average</a> as per SDG <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg10">target 10.1</a>, the WDI presents indicators like the <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI">Gini index</a> or income shares by decile or quintile that are relevant for SDG goal 10 on inequality. SDG related indicators can also be explored in the <a href="http://datatopics.worldbank.org/sdgs/">SDG dashboard</a>, which uses WDI data. </p> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/">World Development Indicators</a></li> <li><a href="http://data.worldbank.org">World Bank Open Data</a></li> <li><a href="https://databank.worldbank.org/data/home">DataBank</a></li> <li><a href="http://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/wdi-and-the-sustainable-development-goals.html">WDI and the Sustainable Development Goals</a></li> <li><a href="http://datatopics.worldbank.org/sdgatlas/">The Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals 2018</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.google.com/publicdata/overview?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_">Google - public data</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>World Development Indicators, retrieved December 6, 2018 <a href="http://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/" target="_blank">http://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>