Advanced Data API Queries
About Advanced Data API Queries (BETA)
Below is an example response to an Advanced Data Query. Please refer to this example when reading the query definitions below:
<wb:data xmlns:wb="http://www.worldbank.org" page="1" pages="1" per_page="50" total="1" lastupdated="2011-12-15">
<wb:source id="2" name="World Development Indicators">
<wb:data>
<wb:variable name="Country" id="IND">India</wb:variable>
<wb:variable name="Series" id="SP.POP.TOTL">Population, total</wb:variable>
<wb:variable name="Time" id="YR2011">2011</wb:variable>
<wb:value>1241491960</wb:value>
</wb:data>
</wb:source>
</wb:data>
Query Definitions
Advanced Data Queries allow you to retrieve data for any combination of multidimensional data sources and multidimensional concepts. The following Advanced Data Queries can be made through the Metadata API. Detailed explanations and examples are provided for each query type in the following pages. Please refer to the above response example when interpreting these explanations.
- Source: Retrieves information about the source database.
-
Examples: World Development Indicators, Doing Business, International Debt Statistics, etc.
<wb:source id="2" name="World Development Indicators">
-
- Concept: Retrieves source Concepts (also known as “Dimensions” or combinations of dimensions).
- Examples: Country, Series, Time, etc.
<wb:variable name="Country">
- Examples: Country, Series, Time, etc.
- Concept Variables: Retrieves source Concept Variables (also known as “Dimension Variables”). Concept Variables belong to Concepts.
- Examples: High Income, East Asia & Pacific, United States of America, 2012, etc.
<wb:variable name="Country" id="IND">India</wb:variable>
- Examples: High Income, East Asia & Pacific, United States of America, 2012, etc.
- Data: Retrieves data for any combination of Source and Concepts.
- Examples: 12341491960, etc.
<wb:value>1241491960</wb:value>
- Examples: 12341491960, etc.
Source Queries
The following data source information will appear, when available, in the response.
- Date last updated
- Source ID
- Source Name
- WB Source Code
- Source description
- Source URL
- Data availability: “Y” means indicator data is available for that source; “N” means it is not available.
- Meta data availability: “Y” means Meta data is available for that source; “N” means it is not available.
- Number of concepts
Sample Request Format: Source Queries
To request information about all sources: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources
Sample Response Format: Source Queries
-
XML Request: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources
```xml
Africa Development Indicators ADI Y Y 3
</wb:source> … </wb:sources>
* JSON Request: <https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources?format=json>
```json
[
{
"page":1,
"pages":1,
"per_page":50,
"total":42
},
[
{
"id":"11",
"name":"Africa Development Indicators ",
"description": "",
"url": "",
"dataavailability": "Y",
"metadataavailability": "Y"
},
...
]
]
- To request information about a particular source: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/2
Concept Queries
This call will return the following information, when available, about concepts of a specific source.
- Source ID
- Concept ID
- Concept Name
Sample Request Formats: Concept Queries
To request a list of all available concepts: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/2/concepts/data
Sample Response Formats: Concept Queries
-
XML Request: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/2/concepts/data?format=xml
<wb:data xmlns:wb="http://www.worldbank.org" page="1" pages="1" per_page="50" total="3"> <wb:source id="2" name="World Development Indicators"> <wb:concept id="Country">Country</wb:concept> <wb:concept id="Series">Series</wb:concept> <wb:concept id="Time">Time</wb:concept> </wb:source> </wb:data> - JSON Request: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/2/concepts/data?format=json
{ "page":1, "pages":1, "per_page":50, "total":3, "source":[{ "id":"2", "name":"World Development Indicators", "concept":[ {"id":"Country","value":"Country"}, {"id":"Series","value":"Series"}, {"id":"Time","value":"Time"} ] }] } - Example: to retrieve a specific concept detail for a source (in this example, Concept ID is “Country” and Source is “WDI Database Archives” or source 57): https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/57/concepts/country/data
Concept Variables Queries
This call will return the following information, when available, about concept variables of a specific source.
- Source ID
- Concept ID
- Concept Name
- Variable ID
- Variable Name
Sample Request Formats: Concept Variables Queries
To request a list of all available variables in a concept: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/2/country/data
Sample Response Formats: Concept Queries
-
XML Request: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/2/country/data?format=xml
<wb:data xmlns:wb="http://www.worldbank.org" page="1" pages="6" per_page="50" total="264"> <wb:source id="2" name="World Development Indicators"> <wb:concept id="country" name="country"> <wb:variable id="ABW">Aruba</wb:variable> <wb:variable id="AFG">Afghanistan</wb:variable> <wb:variable id="AGO">Angola</wb:variable> <wb:variable id="ALB">Albania</wb:variable> ... </wb:concept> </wb:source> </wb:data> -
JSON Request: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/2/country/data?format=json
{ "page":1, "pages":6, "per_page":50, "total":264, "source":[{ "id":"2", "name":"World Development Indicators", "concept":[{ "id":"country", "name":"country", "variable":[ {"id":"ABW","value":"Aruba"}, {"id":"AFG","value":"Afghanistan"}, {"id":"AGO","value":"Angola"}, {"id":"ALB","value":"Albania"}, ... ] }] }] } -
Example: to retrieve a specific concept variable detail for a source (in this example, concept ID is “Country”, Country variable id is “ALB” and Source is World Development Indicators or source 2): https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/57/country/ALB/data
Advanced Data Queries
Data can be retrieved for any combination of Sources and Concepts.
Example: The following request provides data for Country ALB (Albania), Series SP.POP.TOTL ( Population, total), Time 1975, Version 1997 Apr.
In this example, “sources”, “country”, “series”, “time”, and “version” are all keywords: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/57/country/ALB/series/SP.POP.TOTL/time/yr1975/version/199704
Response Format: Advanced Data Queries
-
XML Request: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/57/country/ALB/series/SP.POP.TOTL/time/yr1975/version/199704/data?format=xml
<wb:data xmlns:wb="http://www.worldbank.org" page="1" pages="1" per_page="50" total="1" lastupdated="2023-08-10"> <wb:source id="57" name="WDI Database Archives"> <wb:data> <wb:variable concept="Country" id="ALB">Albania</wb:variable> <wb:variable concept="Version" id="199704">1997 Apr</wb:variable> <wb:variable concept="Series" id="SP.POP.TOTL">Population, total</wb:variable> <wb:variable concept="Time" id="YR1975">1975</wb:variable> <wb:value>2402000</wb:value> </wb:data> </wb:source> </wb:data> -
JSON Request: https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/57/country/ALB/series/SP.POP.TOTL/time/all/version/199704/data?format=json
{ "page":1, "pages":2, "per_page":50, "total":67, "lastupdated":"2023-08-10", "source":{ "id":"57", "name":"WDI Database Archives", "data":[ {"variable":[ {"concept":"Country","id":"ALB","value":"Albania"}, {"concept":"Version","id":"199704","value":"1997 Apr"}, {"concept":"Series","id":"SP.POP.TOTL","value":"Population, total"}, {"concept":"Time","id":"YR2016","value":"2016"}], "value":null }, {"variable":[ {"concept":"Country","id":"ALB","value":"Albania"}, {"concept":"Version","id":"199704","value":"1997 Apr"}, {"concept":"Series","id":"SP.POP.TOTL","value":"Population, total"}] } ] } } -
Example: to retrieve all the data for one or more Concepts (in this case, the Concept is “time” and the value is “all”): https://api.worldbank.org/v2/sources/57/country/ALB/series/SP.POP.TOTL/time/all/version/199704/data
JSON-stat Queries (BETA)
Data can be retrieved in JSON-stat format.