Economics

World Bank Databank

Overview

The World Bank Databank contains various databases that have time series data on a multitude of topics for many countries around the world. This tool allows an individual to extract the specific information they require by choosing a certain database, data series, country or countries and year(s) of interest. Once the data has been chosen, one can either obtain the raw data in a table, make a chart or create a map. With 71 databases to choose from that are regularly updated, it is easy to sort through them alphabetically, by topic or the most frequently used. Note: One can download the data without an account, but must create an account in order to save and share their charts and maps.*

*This description is a paraphrased version of the description on the World Bank Databank website.

Available data file formats

Excel, CSV, Tabbed TXT and SDMX.

Accessibility

This is an open data source that is for public use.

World Bank Databank

How to retrieve data by example

Scenario

Suppose you are trying to evaluate the different health outcomes in select South American countries. Specifically, you want to look at infant mortality rates and other infant and/or adolescent health outcomes in Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Columbia and Venezuela. You would like to obtain the data in a CSV file (which can be read into Excel), and perhaps make a chart to visualize the data.

Step-by-step

Go to World Bank Databank and under the search bar, click on the button Topic next to Filter by. Scroll through the list and select Health and then Apply filter.

Screenshot of the Databank main page where there is a search bar below where it says Explore databases. There is also a Filter by Topic option to the right of the search bar. Selecting Topic will produce a drop-down menu that lists various topics.

Looking at the results of the search, there are a few options to choose from in order to obtain health outcomes of adolescents. Click on Health Nutrition and Population Statistics.

Screenshot of results from filtering by Health topic. The third result at the bottom of the page says Health Nutrition and Population Statistics.

The database at this point has been selected as Health Nutrition and Population Statistics. There are seven countries of interest, so by clicking on the desired countries under the Country drop-down menu we have seven selected countries. Note: The drop-down menus show the number of options available in that category and which of those options are currently selected. This is a good reference to ensure you are selecting the desired information.

Screenshot of the Databank where the left side of the screen has different filters to select. From top to bottom it lists, Database, Country, Series and Year. The right side of the screen shows the output once the filters are selected. It is shown here that countries Uruguay and Venezuela are checked.

Click on the Series drop-down menu, and scroll through the various variables of interest that you are looking for in your analysis. You can also click on the Filter button (the drop-down menu with a symbol resembling a funnel) to see the different categories the variables of interest fall into, in order to narrow down your selection.

Screenshot similar to the image above, but now shows the series filtering options on the left. The right of the screen is the same.

After looking through the list, you have chosen 28 variables that are of interest to you and relate to the health outcomes of infant/adolescent children in select South American countries. You decide you want the data for the last 10 years. Check the boxes for the last 10 years and click on Apply changes in the middle of the screen. Your screen should now look like to this:

Screenshot of the Databank for the Health Nutrition and Population Statistics, similar to the previous two images. The left side now shows the last 10 years having checked boxes for each year. The right side of the screen shows a table of output that is a result of the selected filtering options. It shows one series variable at a time, with Children (0-14) living with HIV as the variable currently being displayed.

To download the data, click on Download options in the top right corner of the screen. You can select which format you would like to download the data in and it will automatically download. Alternatively, you can click on Advanced options at the bottom of that drop-down menu and choose specific options for your dataset. Since you want the data in a CSV file, click on CSV and select the options you would like for your dataset. It would also be helpful for future reference to have the Metadata for this data set, so if that is desired then select Yes for Metadata.

Screenshot similar to previous three images, but now with a download options screen being displayed over the Databank page and the output results. There are two tabs: Download format, which is shown along with all of the available options, and Metadata. There is also a metadata drop-down menu that gives the option to download metadata and it gives the options of yes and no.

The data is now downloaded. For this specific scenario, five separate files were downloaded into a .zip file – one file was the data, one file contained footnotes, and the remaining three files are Metadata information for this specific dataset.

If you wanted to see a chart representing the data, you can click on the variable of interest from the drop-down menu under Preview and then click on Chart at the very top. The Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) variable over the last 10 years chart is displayed as follows:

Screenshot of Databank Health Nutrition and Population Statistics, similar to the previous images, but now the output results on the right are in the form of a chart instead of a table. The chart is a time series line graph that displays information for the selected countries and for the variable Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births).

To save or share the chart, you must create an account on the website. However, you can print the chart or download it as an image with the buttons to the top right of the chart.

You should now have access to the raw data on infant mortality rates in Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Columbia and Venezuela for the years 2009-18.

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

Health Nutrition and Population Statistics. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.