World Bank Microdata Library alternatives

3 tools to consider instead of World Bank Microdata Library, shown against it.

World Bank Microdata Library The DHS Program AidData Humanitarian Data Exchange
Vendor World Bank Group USAID (with support from the Gates Foundation and implementing partners) AidData, William & Mary UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Centre for Humanitarian Data
Pricing model Free Free Free Free
Free tier Yes Yes Yes Yes
Deployment Cloud Cloud Cloud Cloud
Open source No No No No
Best for Development economists and researchers needing household-level survey microdata from low- and middle-income countries. Global health researchers, governments and NGOs needing comparable household survey data across developing countries. Researchers and policy analysts tracking global development finance flows, especially Chinese overseas lending. Humanitarian responders and analysts needing a single index of crisis-related datasets from many organizations.
Pricing

Free access to most datasets; some third-party-owned datasets carry additional access restrictions.

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

Free with registration for microdata access; aggregated indicators and API available without registration.

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

Free research outputs and datasets published by a university research lab, funded by grants and university support.

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

Free, open UN platform for publishing and accessing humanitarian datasets.

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

Features
  • Central catalog of household survey and administrative microdata
  • Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) collection
  • Global Findex financial-inclusion survey data
  • UNHCR refugee and UNICEF MICS survey collections
  • International metadata-standard documentation for each dataset
  • Search and browse across a central catalog and specialized collections
  • 400+ nationally representative health and population surveys across ~100 countries
  • Free registered access to de-identified household survey microdata
  • STATcompiler tool for querying aggregated indicators
  • Public API for programmatic indicator access
  • Geographic/spatial data repository for GIS analysis
  • Biomarker data (e.g. anemia, HIV testing) linked to survey responses
  • Dataset of ~31,750 Chinese official loans and grants across ~200 countries (2000-2023)
  • Dedicated Chinese seaport financing dataset
  • Geocoded development-finance data covering 165 countries
  • GeoQuery tool for combining spatial development data with geographic layers
  • China Contracts Search tool
  • Published policy research, working papers and training programs
  • 20,000+ humanitarian datasets from 1,900+ contributing organizations
  • Coverage of displacement, food security, health, conflict and response indicators
  • CKAN-based searchable data catalog
  • HDX API for programmatic dataset search and retrieval
  • Tabular Data Explorer with DataStore-backed querying
  • Country and crisis-specific data pages

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