Economics

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics Data Browser

OVERVIEW

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Data Browser is an interactive platform designed to provide access to a comprehensive range of global statistical data. Users can explore various themes such as education, science and technology, culture, communication, and social development. In the education domain, the UIS offers detailed indicators on enrollment rates, literacy levels, teacher–student ratios, and educational attainment, thereby allowing stakeholders to track progress toward universal education goals. The platform allows users to easily access, filter, and visualize data from multiple countries, making it an essential tool for informed decision-making and policy development.

*The description above is a paraphrased version of the description on UIS Data Browser website.

Available Data File Formats

CSV, EXCEL, JSON, & PNG

Accessibility

This is an open data source for public use.

How to retrieve data by example;

Scenario

Suppose you want to explore the trend of Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of GDP in different countries (China, Denmark, France, Netherlands, & South Africa) spanning from 2004 to 2022.

Step-by-step

1. Visit UIS Data Browser via: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/

Visit IMF DATA Explorer via: https://data.imf.org/en/Data-Explorer

2. Move the mouse pointer to the top right, and click on “Browse Data” in red.

Click on “Data” in red. Move the mouse pointer to the left and click on “Labor Statistics (LS)” in green.

3. Afterwards, scroll down and click on “SDG9 Monitoring” in green from the “Science, Technology & Innovation” section.

While on the left side of the window, click on “Country” in blue to select twelve countries from the list.

4. Click on “Indicator 9.5.1 – Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD)” in red.

Click on “Indicator” in red and select “unemployment rate”.

5. Click on “GERD as a percentage of GDP” in red. Click on “GERD as a percentage of GDP” in green. Afterwards, move the mouse pointer to the top right corner and click on “Go to view data’ in yellow.

Click on “Type of transformations” and select “Percent” from the list.

6. Afterwards, this is how the data would appear. Move the mouse pointer to the left side, and click on “Filter by country or region” in red to select (China, Denmark, France, Netherlands, & South Africa). Click on “Time range” in red to select 2004 – 2022. Click on “Table” in red to select an appropriate spacing or layout for the table.

Click on “Frequency” in yellow and select “Annual”.

7. This is how the data would appear for the five countries we filtered. To download the data in Excel, move the mouse pointer to the bottom right corner and click on “Download filtered data” in red.

Click on “Time Period” in red and select “Past 15 years” (thus 2011 to 2023).

8. This is how the data would appear in Excel.

After clicking on “Apply” in red, this is how the data would appear on the screen.

9. To visualize the data, move the mouse pointer to the left and click on “Time series” in green. Click on “Highlight countries or regions” in yellow and select the five countries to keep their colors as seen on the chart. To obtain the data in PNG format, click on the download button in red.

Move the mouse pointer to the top right corner and click on “Download”, and select “Data on this page”.

10. This is how the data for the five select countries would appear on the chart.

Afterwards, this is how the data would appear in Excel.

Be sure to consult with the source website on how to correctly cite your data. For this scenario, the citation in APA would look something like this;

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2025). GERD as a percentage of GDP. UIS Data Browser. https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/