World Bank API

api.worldbank.org · Government

Government No Auth Free & Open Economics Development Open Data

Access World Bank development data — GDP, poverty rates, health indicators, education statistics, and thousands of other metrics across 200+ countries. Free, no API key required.

Authentication

No authentication requiredFree to use with no key needed.

Sample Requests

GET Get GDP for a country

Get the last 5 years of US GDP data.

https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/US/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?mrv=5&format=json

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/US/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?mrv=5&format=json"

import requests
params = {
    "mrv": "5",
    "format": "json"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/US/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/US/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD');
url.searchParams.set('mrv', '5');
url.searchParams.set('format', 'json');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/US/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("mrv", "5")
	q.Set("format", "json")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/US/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "mrv" => "5",
  "format" => "json"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/US/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?" . http_build_query([
    "mrv" => "5",
    "format" => "json"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Search indicators

Search available World Development Indicators.

https://api.worldbank.org/v2/indicator?q=poverty&format=json&source=2&per_page=5

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.worldbank.org/v2/indicator?q=poverty&format=json&source=2&per_page=5"

import requests
params = {
    "q": "poverty",
    "format": "json",
    "source": "2",
    "per_page": "5"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.worldbank.org/v2/indicator",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.worldbank.org/v2/indicator');
url.searchParams.set('q', 'poverty');
url.searchParams.set('format', 'json');
url.searchParams.set('source', '2');
url.searchParams.set('per_page', '5');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.worldbank.org/v2/indicator")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("q", "poverty")
	q.Set("format", "json")
	q.Set("source", "2")
	q.Set("per_page", "5")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.worldbank.org/v2/indicator")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "q" => "poverty",
  "format" => "json",
  "source" => "2",
  "per_page" => "5"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.worldbank.org/v2/indicator?" . http_build_query([
    "q" => "poverty",
    "format" => "json",
    "source" => "2",
    "per_page" => "5"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

Postman Setup Guide

Get Postman ↗

No API key needed
Always add ?format=json to get JSON instead of XML
Try GET https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/GB/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?format=json&mrv=5
Replace GB with any ISO 2-letter country code
indicator codes: NY.GDP.MKTP.CD (GDP), SP.POP.TOTL (population), SI.POV.NAHC (poverty rate)

What can you build with World Bank API?

World Bank API is a Government API. Developers commonly use government APIs for:

surfacing public datasets in citizen-facing apps
building transparency and civic engagement tools
accessing legislation, court records, and official data
powering research and journalism tools
creating compliance and regulatory monitoring dashboards

No authentication required. This API is open — no signup or key needed. Ideal for quick prototypes and public-facing features. World Bank API is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.

New to APIs? Read our beginner's guide

Open documentation ↗