Data Methodology

Data Sources

PlainCountries draws from four authoritative international organizations:

  • World Bank Open Data — Indicators covering demographics, economics, education, environment, infrastructure, and social development for all member countries. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
    data.worldbank.org
  • WHO Global Health Observatory — Health statistics for all WHO member states, including life expectancy, mortality rates, and health system access indicators. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
    who.int/data/gho
  • OECD Health Statistics — Comparable health-system indicators (physician and nurse density, hospital beds, health spending) across OECD member countries, used in our OECD healthcare rankings.
    oecd.org/health/health-statistics
  • ILO ILOSTAT — Labour-market statistics including average monthly earnings and weekly hours worked, used in our labour and wages indicators.
    ilostat.ilo.org

Data Vintage

Time series data spans 2000 to 2024, with the most recent year available varying by indicator. International development statistics often lag by 1–2 years due to the time required for national reporting and international compilation. Each data value is displayed alongside the year it was measured, allowing users to assess data currency for each specific indicator. Some countries have more complete and recent data than others, reflecting differences in national statistical capacity and reporting infrastructure.

Processing Pipeline

Our ETL pipeline collects data from both the World Bank and WHO APIs, normalizes it, and produces the integrated dataset that powers all country profiles and comparison tools.

  1. Data is collected from the World Bank and WHO APIs using official indicator codes. Each API is queried for all available countries and years for each indicator.
  2. Country records are matched to ISO 3166-1 country codes (alpha-2 and alpha-3) for consistent identification across both sources. Countries not recognized by both organizations may have partial coverage.
  3. We cover 45 development indicators across 7 topic areas: demographics, economics, education, health, environment, infrastructure, and governance.
  4. Rankings are pre-computed based on the latest available data point for each country-indicator pair, with the year of measurement recorded alongside each value.
  5. Time series are retained for trend visualization from 2000 to the present, showing how each country's metrics have evolved over the past two decades.
  6. No original data values are modified, interpolated, or extrapolated. Where data is missing for a particular country-year combination, it is displayed as unavailable rather than estimated.

Coverage

  • Countries: 217 countries and territories
  • Indicators: 45 development indicators
  • Topic areas: Demographics, Economics, Education, Health, Environment, Infrastructure, Governance
  • Time range: 2000–2024

How the Source Agencies Collect Data

The World Bank compiles development indicators from national statistical offices, central banks, and international organizations across its 189 member countries. Data is submitted by governments through annual reporting processes, verified by World Bank economists, and harmonized to enable cross-country comparison. Methodologies follow international standards set by the UN Statistical Commission, the IMF, and other bodies.

The WHO Global Health Observatory collects health data from national ministries of health, vital registration systems, household surveys (such as DHS and MICS), and disease surveillance networks. WHO applies statistical models to fill gaps and produce comparable estimates across countries. Life expectancy, mortality, and health access figures are computed using WHO's established demographic and epidemiological methods.

Data Accuracy Commitment

PlainCountries presents World Bank and WHO data without modification. Indicator values, time series, and rankings are displayed exactly as published by the source organizations. We do not interpolate missing years, estimate unreported indicators, or adjust values. If you find any data that appears incorrect, please contact us at hello@plaincountries.com.

Limitations

  • Not all indicators are available for all countries or all years. Data gaps reflect reporting limitations at the national level, not PlainCountries errors.
  • Some indicators lag by 1–2 years relative to the most recent calendar year.
  • Country comparisons use the most recent available value per indicator, which may be from different years for different countries.
  • PlainCountries is not affiliated with the World Bank, WHO, or any government agency.