@pipeworx/worldbank

Connect: https://gateway.pipeworx.io/worldbank/mcp · Install: one-click buttons

Tools: 4

The World Bank Open Data API. Thousands of development, economic, social, and demographic indicators for every country. Time series going back decades. The canonical source for cross-country comparisons of poverty, education, health, gender, environment, infrastructure. Free, no auth.

Why this matters for AI agents

For development questions, cross-country comparisons of social indicators, or any “how does country X compare on indicator Y” question, the World Bank’s database is the right starting point. Complements IMF (macro/fiscal) with development-specific coverage (WDI, EdStats, GenderStats, etc.).

Common flows:

  • Indicator lookup. “GDP per capita PPP for India” → World Bank indicator NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD for India.
  • Country comparison. Same indicator across multiple countries.
  • Theme browsing. Education indicators, health indicators, environment indicators, etc.

Auth

None. World Bank Open Data is fully public, free.

Indicator code structure

World Bank indicator codes follow a domain.theme.metric pattern:

CodeIndicator
NY.GDP.MKTP.CDGDP (current US$)
NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CDGDP per capita, PPP (current intl $)
SP.POP.TOTLTotal population
SE.PRM.ENRRPrimary school enrollment, gross %
EG.ELC.ACCS.ZSAccess to electricity, % of population
SI.POV.GINIGini index
EN.ATM.CO2E.PCCO2 emissions per capita

Search the catalog when you don’t know the code.

Country and country-group codes

World Bank uses ISO 3-letter codes (USA, BRA, IND) plus aggregate codes:

  • WLD — World
  • EUU — European Union
  • LMC — Lower middle income
  • OED — OECD members
  • SSA — Sub-Saharan Africa

Aggregate codes are useful for “how does X compare to its peer group?” questions.

Common pitfalls

  • Indicator deprecation. World Bank periodically retires/replaces indicators. The API marks deprecated ones; prefer current ones for new analysis.
  • Coverage gaps. Not every country reports every indicator every year. The API returns nulls for missing data. Compute aggregates carefully.
  • Vintages. Indicator values can be revised. Cite the vintage if precision matters.
  • Real vs nominal. Many financial indicators come in both nominal (current dollars) and real (constant dollars). The .CD suffix is current dollars; .KD is constant.
  • PPP vs market exchange rate. Cross-country GDP comparison should use PPP for most “how rich is X” questions; market rates for “what does X export” questions.
  • Data freshness. World Bank consolidates from member-country reporting; lag varies. Most recent year for many indicators is 1–2 years prior. Check data availability before promising “current.”

Tools

  • get_country — Get basic information about a country: full name, region, income level, capital city, and coordinates. Use ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 or alpha-3 country codes (e.g., “US”, “GBR”, “IN”).
  • get_indicator — Get time-series values for a World Bank indicator for a specific country. Common indicators: NY.GDP.MKTP.CD (GDP), SP.POP.TOTL (population), EN.ATM.CO2E.KT (CO2 emissions), SE.ADT.LITR.ZS (literacy ra
  • get_population — Get total population over time for a country. Shortcut for get_indicator with SP.POP.TOTL.
  • get_gdp — Get GDP (current USD) over time for a country. Shortcut for get_indicator with NY.GDP.MKTP.CD.

Tools

  • get_country — Get basic information about a country: full name, region, income level, capital city, and coordinates. Use ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 or alpha-3 country codes (e.g., US , GBR , IN ).
  • get_gdp — Get GDP (current USD) over time for a country. Shortcut for get_indicator with NY.GDP.MKTP.CD.
  • get_indicator — Get time-series values for a World Bank indicator for a specific country. Common indicators: NY.GDP.MKTP.CD (GDP), SP.POP.TOTL (population), EN.ATM.CO2E.KT (CO2 emissions), SE.ADT.LITR.ZS (literacy ra
  • get_population — Get total population over time for a country. Shortcut for get_indicator with SP.POP.TOTL.

Regenerated from source · build May 9, 2026