---
name: world-bank-ingestion
description: "How to get World Bank Open Data data into a pandas DataFrame and Parquet: access, the request, the format, limits, quirks and terms."
---

# Load World Bank indicators into pandas and Parquet

Source entry: https://signal-lab-jet.vercel.app/datasets/world-bank
Provider: https://data.worldbank.org
Checked against the provider's documentation: 2026-10-29

## Access
- No account or API key.

## Request
```bash
curl 'https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/US;CN/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?format=json&date=2022:2025&per_page=100'
```

## Format
JSON: a two-item list, paging metadata (page, pages, per_page, total, lastupdated) then the rows. Without format=json the API answers in XML.

## Load into pandas and Parquet
Needs Python 3 with requests, pandas and pyarrow.
```python
"""World Bank Indicators API (GDP growth, all countries) -> pandas -> Parquet. No key."""
import requests
import pandas as pd

URL = "https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG"
params = {"format": "json", "date": "2000:2025", "per_page": 1000, "page": 1}
rows = []
while True:
    r = requests.get(URL, params=params, timeout=60)
    r.raise_for_status()
    meta, data = r.json()          # the JSON is a two-item list: paging metadata, then the rows
    rows += data or []
    if params["page"] >= meta["pages"]:
        break
    params["page"] += 1

df = pd.json_normalize(rows)[["countryiso3code", "country.value", "date", "value"]]
df.columns = ["iso3", "country", "year", "gdp_growth_pct"]
df["year"] = df["year"].astype(int)
df.to_parquet("world_bank_gdp_growth.parquet", index=False)
print(len(df), "rows; last updated", meta.get("lastupdated"), "; missing values", int(df["gdp_growth_pct"].isna().sum()))
```
Run by us on 2026-10-29 (python 3.13.5 | pandas 3.1.0 | pyarrow 26.0.0 | requests 2.34.2). Result: 6,916 rows for 266 countries and aggregates, 2000 to 2025; 314 empty values.

## Limits
- Rate limit: Not stated.
- Pages default to 50 rows; set per_page and follow pages.

## Quirks
- country/all also returns aggregates such as Euro area and income groups; income groups have an empty countryiso3code. Filter them out before country-level work.
- Missing years come back as value null.
- Values can be revised in later updates; keep the lastupdated date with your copy.

## Terms and attribution
- Most datasets, including World Development Indicators, are CC BY 4.0: credit the World Bank and say if you changed the data. Some datasets carry other licenses, so check each one.
- Terms page: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/public-licenses

## Sources
- https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/889392-about-the-indicators-api-documentation: "API keys and other authentication methods are no longer necessary to access the API."
- https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/898581-api-basic-call-structures: "The default setting is 50 results per page."
- https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/public-licenses: "Users are only obligated to give appropriate credit (attribution) and indicate if they have made any changes"

## Help improve this skill
Missing a source, or see something to improve? Call the MCP tool suggest_source or feedback (or POST /api/suggest or /api/feedback). Reviewed ideas: https://signal-lab-jet.vercel.app/agent-suggestions

Information for educational purposes only. Free tiers, limits and licenses belong to the providers and may change; check the provider's own terms before using the data.