Open data platforms · The World Bank Group

World Bank Open Data

Free global development data covering economic, social and environmental indicators for nearly every country.

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World Bank Open Data is the standard free source for cross-country development indicators - GDP, poverty rates, education, health, infrastructure and environmental measures - drawn largely from its World Development Indicators collection and member-country statistical reporting. It covers global development where Eurostat covers only the EU, making the two natural complements rather than direct substitutes. Data is accessible through an indicator API, bulk CSV/Excel downloads, and DataBank, an interactive query tool for building custom comparison tables across countries and years. A separate microdata catalog exposes household survey data behind some of the aggregated indicators for researchers who need it. It's funded through the World Bank's own operations, resourced by member-country contributions, and offered free with no commercial tier.

At a glance

Vendor The World Bank Group
Pricing model Free
Free tier Yes
Deployment Cloud
Open source No
Best for Cross-country development and economic research needing free, long-run indicator data.

Pricing

Free public data, funded through the World Bank Group's operations and member-country contributions.

Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.

Features

  • Development indicators covering nearly every country
  • Indicator API and bulk CSV/Excel downloads
  • DataBank interactive comparison tool
  • Country and income-group groupings
  • Microdata catalog for underlying household surveys
  • Long historical time series for most indicators

Integrations

Profile last reviewed September 21, 2026

Head to head

Alternatives

Eurostat The European Union's statistical office, publishing free harmonized data on member states' economies and societies. Our World in Data Free publication pairing research writing with data visualization on global problems like health, poverty and climate. Data.gov The U.S. federal government's central catalog of open datasets published by executive branch agencies.

World Bank Open Data in the index now

Terms to know

Time series forecasting Predicting future values of a metric using patterns found in its own historical sequence over time.

Related guides

How to choose an open data platform Decide first whether you are publishing data or consuming it — the two halves of this category share a name but nothing else. How to use census and government data Finding the right official statistics, joining them to your own data by geography, and the margin-of-error traps that catch first-time users.