Data Sources
WorldFactDB aggregates data from five authoritative international organizations and reference publications. All sources are publicly available and widely used by governments, researchers, and educators. Data is refreshed daily via automated ingestion pipelines.
World Bank Open Data
~36 metricsThe World Bank Open Data portal is the primary source for economic, demographic, health, education, and infrastructure metrics. It covers 200+ countries with standardized, annually updated indicators.
Economy
- •GDP (nominal & per capita)
- •GDP per capita (PPP)
- •GNI per capita
- •Unemployment rate
- •Inflation rate
- •Public debt (% of GDP)
- •Gini index
- •Poverty rate ($3.65/day)
Demographics
- •Total population
- •Urban population (%)
- •Population growth rate
- •Fertility rate
Health
- •Life expectancy
- •Physicians per 1,000 people
- •Under-5 mortality rate
- •Maternal mortality ratio
- •Safe water access
- •Safe drinking water
- •Food insecurity rate
- •Child malnutrition
Education
- •School enrollment (primary, secondary, tertiary)
- •Gross enrollment ratios (pre-primary through tertiary)
- •Adult literacy rate
- •Education spending (% of GDP)
- •Pupil-teacher ratio (primary)
- •Youth not in employment/education (NEET)
Energy & Environment
- •Electricity access
- •Renewable energy (%)
- •Renewable electricity (%)
- •Energy intensity
- •CO₂ emissions
- •Forest area (%)
Infrastructure & Communications
- •Internet users (%)
- •Mobile subscriptions per 100
- •Broadband subscriptions per 100
- •Air transport passengers & freight
- •Container port traffic
- •Rail lines (km)
- •Total roads (km)
WHO Global Health Observatory
6 metricsThe WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO) is the authoritative source for health statistics from the World Health Organization. It provides standardized health metrics across all UN member states.
Health System
- •Hospital beds per 1,000 people
- •UHC service coverage index
Immunization
- •DTP3 immunization coverage
- •Measles immunization coverage
Outcomes
- •Life expectancy at birth (WHO)
- •Maternal mortality ratio (WHO)
UN Data (SDMX API)
15 metricsUN Data provides official United Nations statistics via the SDMX standard API. We use the UNSD Country Data dataset, which covers a broad range of social, economic, and environmental SDG-aligned indicators.
Health
- •HIV prevalence
- •Tuberculosis incidence
- •Malaria incidence
- •Infant mortality rate
Social
- •Child labor rate
- •Out-of-school children
- •Slum population (%)
- •Undernourishment rate
Environment
- •Protected land areas
- •Marine protected areas
- •Endangered species count
- •Ozone-depleting substances
CIA World Factbook
30+ metricsThe CIA World Factbook is a comprehensive reference on the history, people, government, economy, and geography of 233 countries. We use the 2020 edition for rich qualitative and descriptive data not available from statistical APIs.
Government
- •Government type
- •Legal system
- •Executive branch
- •Legislative branch
- •Judicial branch
- •International organization memberships
Demographics
- •Religion (with percentages)
- •Ethnic groups (with percentages)
Geography
- •Climate description
- •Terrain description
- •Natural resources
- •Elevation (highest/lowest points)
- •Natural hazards
- •Environmental issues
- •Land use breakdown
- •Geographic note
Military
- •Military forces description
- •Military expenditures (% of GDP)
- •Personnel strength
- •Military deployments
- •Equipment inventory
- •Service age and obligation
National Symbols
- •Flag description
- •National symbols
- •National anthem
REST Countries API
11 metricsREST Countries provides lightweight country metadata — the factual attributes of a country that rarely change. This data is used to populate the core country profile fields and geography basics.
Geography & Identity
- •Area (km²)
- •Landlocked status
- •Independence status
- •Driving side (left/right)
- •Start of week
Codes & Identifiers
- •International dialing code (IDD)
- •Postal code format
- •Vehicle registration signs
Culture & Economy
- •Official languages
- •Official currencies
- •Timezones
How Data Gets Updated
WorldFactDB data is refreshed manually several times per year to coincide with major data releases from the World Bank, WHO, and UN. Most of our source datasets publish new figures annually, so frequent automated updates would not add meaningful value.
CIA World Factbook and REST Countries data is stable reference information that changes rarely and is updated on an as-needed basis.
Source Priority
When multiple sources provide the same metric (e.g., life expectancy from both World Bank and WHO), we apply a priority order to determine which value is displayed:
- WHO (most authoritative for health metrics)
- UN Data (official UN statistics)
- World Bank (broad coverage, standardized methodology)
Found an error or discrepancy in our data? Let us know and we will investigate.