World Bank Development Data Collector

🌍 World Bank Development Data Collector is a powerful Apify Actor designed to discover, track, and collect key economic and social indicators directly from the World Bank's official Open Data API. This tool provides comprehensive World Bank Development intelligence including GDP, population, life expectancy, poverty, literacy, unemployment, and CO2 emissions data across countries and years. Whether you're building an economic dashboard, tracking development trends, or conducting cross-country research, the World Bank Development Data Collector delivers actionable World Bank Development insights efficiently.

With direct World Bank API integration, multi-indicator batch fetching, country-level scoping, and reliable Apify Dataset delivery, the World Bank Development Data Collector ensures comprehensive World Bank Development coverage across decades of historical data. It focuses on key World Bank Development signals including indicator value, year, and country metadata, making it an essential tool for economic research and global development intelligence.

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📋 Table of Contents

• Features
• Data Source
• How It Works
• Input
• Output
• Technical Stack
• Data Fields
• Available Indicators
• Use Cases
• Quick Start
• Configuration
• Performance
• Billing
• Important Notes
• Changelog
• Support
• License & Legal

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🔥 Features

• World Bank API Integration – Direct, key-less integration with the official World Bank Open Data API.
• Multi-Indicator Support – Fetch a single indicator, a custom comma-separated list, or all common indicators in one run.
• Country-Level Scoping – Query a specific country by ISO code, or fetch data for all countries at once.
• Preset Indicator Set – Includes 8 commonly used development indicators out of the box.
• Custom Indicator Codes – Supply any valid World Bank indicator code beyond the built-in preset.
• Historical Coverage – Retrieves the full available time series for each indicator/country pair.
• Null-Value Filtering – Automatically skips records with no reported value.
• Rich Country Metadata – Captures country name, ISO3 code, and decimal precision per record.
• High Page Size – Requests up to 1,000 records per page to minimize pagination overhead.
• Residential Proxy Support – Apify residential proxy for reliable, uninterrupted access.
• Real-Time Dataset Push – Pushes results to Apify Dataset with metadata.
• Detailed Logging – Comprehensive logging of per-indicator fetch progress and record counts.
• Asyncio-Friendly – Non-blocking async/await architecture with httpx.
• Graceful Error Handling – Skips a failing indicator without stopping the whole run.

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📊 Data Source

World Bank Open Data API

• Authority: Official World Bank statistical database
• Endpoint: api.worldbank.org/v2/country/{country}/indicator/{indicator}
• Coverage: 200+ countries and regions, decades of historical data
• Data: Indicator value, year, country name/code, and metadata
• Access: Public, key-less REST/JSON endpoint
• Update Frequency: As the World Bank publishes revised and new statistics

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⚙️ How It Works

The World Bank Development Data Collector accepts a country scope and one or more indicator codes. For each indicator, it queries the World Bank API for that country (or all countries), retrieving up to 1,000 records per page. Each record is parsed to extract the indicator name, code, year, value, and country metadata, skipping any record with no reported value. Results across all requested indicators are combined and pushed to the Apify Dataset in a single batch.

Key Processing Steps:

1. Input Parsing – Accept country code and indicator selection (single, list, or "all")
2. Indicator Resolution – Default to GDP, expand "all" to the preset indicator list, or split a custom comma-separated list
3. Proxy Setup – Configure Apify residential proxy
4. Indicator Loop – Iterate through each requested indicator
5. API Query – Fetch records for the country/indicator pair
6. Response Validation – Detect and log empty or malformed API responses
7. Value Filtering – Skip records with no reported value
8. Metadata Extraction – Capture country name, ISO3 code, and decimal precision
9. Timestamp Tagging – Record scrape time per entry
10. Dataset Push – Push combined results from all indicators in a single batch
11. Summary Logging – Report per-indicator and total record counts

Key Benefits:

• Pull World Bank Development indicators for any country without manual downloads
• Build historical time series for GDP, population, poverty, and more
• Compare development indicators across countries and years
• Feed economic dashboards, research pipelines, or policy analysis tools
• Automate recurring data refreshes as the World Bank updates its figures

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📥 Input

The Actor accepts the following input parameters:

Field	Type	Default	Description
country	string	"all"	ISO2/ISO3 country code to scope results to (e.g., "US", "IN"), or "all" for all countries
indicator	string	"NY.GDP.MKTP.CD"	A single indicator code, a comma-separated list, or "all" for the built-in preset set
useApifyProxy	boolean	true	Enable Apify residential proxies
apifyProxyGroups	array	["RESIDENTIAL"]	Proxy group configuration

Example Input:

{
  "country": "US",
  "indicator": "NY.GDP.MKTP.CD,SP.POP.TOTL"
}

Fetch All Preset Indicators for One Country:

{
  "country": "IN",
  "indicator": "all"
}

Fetch Default GDP Indicator for All Countries:

{
  "country": "all"
}

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📤 Output

The Actor pushes World Bank Development records with the following structure:

Field	Type	Description
indicator	string	Human-readable indicator name
indicator_code	string	World Bank indicator code
year	string	Year the value corresponds to
value	number	Reported indicator value
metadata.country	string	Country name
metadata.country_code	string	ISO3 country code
metadata.decimal	string	Decimal precision reported by the API
scraped_at	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of when the record was scraped

Example World Bank Development Record:

{
  "indicator": "GDP (current US$)",
  "indicator_code": "NY.GDP.MKTP.CD",
  "year": "2024",
  "value": 27360935000000,
  "metadata": {
    "country": "United States",
    "country_code": "USA",
    "decimal": "0"
  },
  "scraped_at": "2026-07-31T09:00:00+00:00"
}

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🧰 Technical Stack

• API: World Bank Open Data API (v2, JSON format)
• HTTP Client: httpx for async HTTP requests
• JSON Parsing: Standard json handling via httpx response parsing
• Date Handling: datetime with timezone-aware UTC timestamps
• Async: asyncio for non-blocking, multi-indicator fetching
• Proxy: Apify Proxy with RESIDENTIAL configuration
• Logging: Apify Actor logging system
• Platform: Apify Actor serverless environment

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📊 Data Fields Explained

Indicator Identification

• indicator: Human-readable name of the statistic (e.g., "GDP per capita")
• indicator_code: The World Bank's official indicator code

Value & Timing

• year: The year the reported value applies to
• value: The numeric indicator value for that year

Country Context

• metadata.country: Full country name
• metadata.country_code: ISO3 country code
• metadata.decimal: Decimal precision as reported by the source

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🏛️ Available Indicators

The Actor ships with 8 commonly used World Bank Development indicators, selectable via "indicator": "all":

Code	Description
NY.GDP.MKTP.CD	GDP (current US$)
NY.GDP.PCAP.CD	GDP per capita
SP.POP.TOTL	Population, total
SP.DYN.LE00.IN	Life expectancy at birth
SI.POV.DDAY	Poverty headcount ratio ($2.15/day)
SE.ADT.LITR.ZS	Literacy rate, adult total
SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS	Unemployment, total (% of labor force)
EN.GHG.CO2.MT.CE.AR5	CO2 emissions (Mt CO2 equivalent)

Any valid World Bank indicator code can also be supplied directly or as part of a comma-separated list.

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🎯 Use Cases

• Economic Research – Pull World Bank Development indicators for cross-country comparison
• Policy Analysis – Track poverty, unemployment, and literacy trends over time
• Investment Research – Assess macroeconomic conditions across target markets
• Academic Studies – Build historical datasets for development economics research
• Dashboard Building – Power BI tools and dashboards with live World Bank data
• ESG & Sustainability Reporting – Incorporate CO2 emissions and social indicators into reports
• Journalism – Source authoritative economic figures for data-driven reporting
• NGO & Policy Planning – Inform program design with up-to-date development statistics

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Prepare Input

Go to Apify Console and enter:

{
  "country": "BR",
  "indicator": "all"
}

2. Run the Actor

Click Start. The Actor will:

• Resolve the requested indicator(s)
• Query the World Bank API for the selected country
• Filter out records with no value
• Push all results to the Dataset

3. Monitor Progress

Console shows:

Initializing World Bank Collector for Country: 'BR' | Indicators: ['NY.GDP.MKTP.CD', 'NY.GDP.PCAP.CD', ...]
[World Bank API] Fetching NY.GDP.MKTP.CD for 'BR'...
 -> NY.GDP.MKTP.CD: 64 record(s) fetched.
Done! Successfully saved 412 record(s) to Apify Dataset.

4. View & Download Results

• Results Tab: All World Bank Development records
• Export: JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML
• Filter: By indicator, country, or year
• API Access: Available via the Apify API

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⚙️ Configuration

Single country, default indicator:

{
  "country": "DE"
}

Custom indicator list:

{
  "country": "ZA",
  "indicator": "SP.DYN.LE00.IN,SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS"
}

All countries, all preset indicators:

{
  "country": "all",
  "indicator": "all"
}

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📈 Performance

Processing Speed

• One request per indicator per run, up to 1,000 records per page
• Short delay between indicator requests to stay respectful of the API
• Scales with the number of indicators and the country scope selected

Resource Usage

• Memory: Low-to-moderate, proportional to historical data volume returned
• Network: One request per configured indicator
• Proxy: One residential proxy session per run

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💰 Billing

Batch Billing

• Billing Model: Batch push (not per-record PPE)
• Typical Cost: Proportional to total records fetched across indicators
• Efficiency: High page size keeps runs efficient even for full historical series

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⚠️ Important Notes

Legal & Compliance

• Fair Use: Respects the World Bank's public API and rate limits
• Official Source: Pulls exclusively from the World Bank's official Open Data API
• Accuracy: Data as published by the World Bank
• Verification: Cross-check critical figures against the official World Bank Open Data portal
• Legal: Not financial or legal advice — consult qualified professionals for investment or policy decisions

Data Quality

• Freshness: Reflects the World Bank's published data at time of run
• Completeness: Not all countries report all indicators for all years
• Accuracy: Sourced directly from the World Bank's official API
• Verification: Cross-check time-sensitive figures against the live World Bank portal

Best Practices

• Use "all" for indicators only when you need the full preset set — narrow selections run faster
• Scope to a specific country when you don't need global coverage
• Re-run periodically to catch revised or newly published figures
• Combine multiple indicator codes in one run to reduce total API calls
• No API key is required — the World Bank API is publicly accessible

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📦 Changelog

v1.0.0 (July 2026)

Initial Release:

• World Bank Open Data API integration
• Single, multi, and preset-list indicator support
• Country-level and all-country scoping
• Null-value record filtering
• Country metadata extraction (name, ISO3 code, decimal precision)
• High page-size pagination (1,000 records per page)
• Apify residential proxy support
• Real-time Dataset push
• Per-indicator error handling and logging
• Asyncio + httpx async architecture

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🧑‍💻 Support & Feedback

• Issues: Submit via Apify console with the country and indicator used
• Documentation: Check the Actor details page
• Community: Apify forum discussions
• Feature Requests: Suggest additional preset indicators to support
• Bug Reports: Include the country, indicator, and error details

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📄 License & Legal

Terms of Use:

• Use for legitimate economic and development research
• Respect the World Bank's Terms of Service
• Attribute the World Bank as the original data source where required
• Use data responsibly

Disclaimer: World Bank Development Data Collector is provided as-is for research purposes. Users are responsible for compliance with the World Bank's ToS. This is not financial or legal advice.

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🎉 Get Started Today

Deploy now for World Bank Development research!

Use for:

• 📊 Economic Analysis
• 🔍 Development Indicator Tracking
• 💡 Policy & Investment Research
• 📈 Cross-Country Comparison
• 🎯 Global Development Intelligence

Perfect for:

• Economists & Analysts
• Policy Researchers
• Journalists
• NGOs & Development Organizations

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Last Updated: July 2026 Version: 1.0.0 Status: Production Ready Platform: Apify Actor Architecture: Async/Await Data Source: World Bank Open Data API

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📚 Related Tools

• Open Data Portal Harvester
• WHO Disease Outbreak News Monitor
• Salary Trends Scraper

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⚖️ World Bank Development Excellence

This Actor is optimized for World Bank Development research with:

• ✅ Multi-indicator, multi-country coverage
• ✅ Direct, key-less World Bank API integration
• ✅ Historical time series retrieval
• ✅ Null-value filtering
• ✅ Real-time Dataset push
• ✅ Production-ready code