The WDI database,
launched along with the World Bank’s Open Data initiative to provide
free data to all users, includes more than 900 indicators documenting
the state of all the world’s economies. The WDI
covers education, health, poverty, environment, economy, trade, and
much more.
"The WDI
provides a valuable statistical picture of the world and how far we've
come in advancing development," said Justin Yifu Lin,
the World Bank’s Chief Economist and the Senior Vice President for
Development Economics. “Making this comprehensive
data free for all is a dream come true."
"...And so we have refined and improved the presentation
of this 17th edition. Our aim is to find the
best way to put data in the hands of policymakers,
development specialists, students, and the public,
so that they may use the data to reduce poverty and
solve the world’s most pressing development challenges.
The biggest change is that the data tables
previously published in the book are now available
online (wdi.worldbank.org/tables).
This has
many advantages: The tables will reflect the latest
additions and revisions to the data. They will be available
to a far greater audience. And they will be free
for everyone.
World Development Indicators 2013 is organized
around six themes—world view, people, environment,
economy, states and markets, and global links. Each
section includes an introduction, a set of six stories
highlighting regional trends, a table of the most relevant
and popular indicators, and an index to the full
set of tables and indicators available online. World
view also reviews progress toward the Millennium
Development Goals..."
