API Worldbank Org

World Bank API Access Skill

Fetch economic and development indicator data from the World Bank's official API.

Overview

The World Bank API provides access to over 29,000 development indicators across 200+ countries and regions. This skill enables structured queries for economic, social, health, education, and environmental data.

Features

Get Indicator Data

Retrieve time-series data for specific indicators and countries:

• Single or multiple countries at once
• Date range filtering (start_year, end_year)
• Most-recent-value mode for latest data only
• Supports all 29,000+ indicators

List Countries

Browse all countries/regions with metadata:

• Filter by income level (HIC, MIC, LIC)
• Filter by geographic region
• Filter by lending type
• Returns ISO codes, region, income level, capital city, coordinates

List Indicators

Discover available indicators:

• Filter by data source (e.g., World Development Indicators)
• Filter by topic area
• Returns indicator name, description, source, and source notes

Get Country/Indicator Info

Detailed metadata for specific countries or indicators.

Common Indicator Codes

Usage Examples

Example 1: Get US GDP data

{
  "function": "get_indicator_data",
  "country_codes": ["US"],
  "indicator_code": "NY.GDP.MKTP.CD",
  "start_year": 2020,
  "end_year": 2024
}

Example 2: Get latest GDP for multiple countries

{
  "function": "get_indicator_data",
  "country_codes": ["US", "CN", "JP", "DE", "GB"],
  "indicator_code": "NY.GDP.MKTP.CD",
  "most_recent_only": true
}

Example 3: Get military expenditure for all countries

{
  "function": "get_indicator_data",
  "country_codes": ["all"],
  "indicator_code": "MS.MIL.XPND.CD",
  "most_recent_only": true
}

Example 4: List high-income countries

{
  "function": "list_countries",
  "income_level": "HIC"
}

Example 5: Search for GDP-related indicators

{
  "function": "list_indicators",
  "source": 2,
  "per_page": 50
}

Example 6: Get indicator details

{
  "function": "get_indicator_info",
  "indicator_code": "NY.GDP.MKTP.CD"
}

Example 7: Get country details

{
  "function": "get_country_info",
  "country_code": "US"
}

Response Format

Indicator Data Response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "indicator": {
      "id": "NY.GDP.MKTP.CD",
      "value": "GDP (current US$)"
    },
    "pagination": {
      "page": 1,
      "pages": 1,
      "total": 4
    },
    "records": [
      {
        "indicator": {"id": "NY.GDP.MKTP.CD", "value": "GDP (current US$)"},
        "country": {"id": "US", "value": "United States"},
        "countryiso3code": "USA",
        "date": "2024",
        "value": 28750956130731.2,
        "unit": "",
        "obs_status": "",
        "decimal": 0
      }
    ],
    "record_count": 1
  }
}

Country List Response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "countries": [
      {
        "id": "US",
        "iso2Code": "US",
        "name": "United States",
        "region": {"id": "NAC", "value": "North America"},
        "incomeLevel": {"id": "HIC", "value": "High income"},
        "capitalCity": "Washington D.C.",
        "longitude": "-77.032",
        "latitude": "38.8895"
      }
    ],
    "total": 1
  }
}

Error Handling

The skill returns structured error responses instead of raising exceptions:

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Invalid value: The provided parameter value is not valid"
}

Common errors:

• Invalid country code: Returns API-level error message
• Invalid indicator code: Returns API-level error message
• Missing required parameter: Returns validation error
• Network timeout: Returns timeout error

API Notes

• Rate Limiting: The World Bank API has generous rate limits but requires a format=json parameter for JSON responses
• Default Format: Without format=json, the API returns XML
• Pagination: Large result sets are paginated (default 50 items per page, max configurable per request)
• Missing Data: value field may be null for years without data
• Country Codes: Supports both 2-letter (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2) and 3-letter (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3) codes
• Aggregations: Some "countries" are actually regional aggregations (e.g., "WLD" for World, "EUU" for European Union)