Overview
Private markets are the engine of economic growth, creating productive jobs and generating higher incomes. Entrepreneurship is therefore essential to the dynamism of the modern market economy; tapping private sector initiative and investment for socially useful purposes is similarly critical for reducing poverty. The government has an essential role in regulating the market and providing services. States and markets statistics focus on private sector development, including entrepreneurship and finance; infrastructure development; and public policies and institutions that affect the economy. Many of these topics are also part of the Sustainable Development Goals. For example, Goal 9 deals with infrastructure, industrialization, and innovation; Goal 16 calls for peace, justice, and strong institutions; and Goal 17 promotes partnerships for global development.
What types of data are available?
States and markets data measure the quality of the business environment, financial system development, transport infrastructure, ICT, science and technology, government, and policy performance; they also cover conditions in fragile countries. For instance, data users can look at the time required to start a business, for both men and women, and the delay in obtaining an electrical connection.
Central to well-functioning markets, access to finance can expand opportunities: greater access to and use of banking services are associated with fewer financing obstacles for people and businesses. Measures of access to finance, such as share of poor with an account at a financial institution or density of ATMs, are available in the online database, along with many other indicators on this topic.
Similarly, new information and communications technologies (ICT) offer vast opportunities for progress in all aspects of life, from economic growth, improved health, and better service delivery to learning through distance education and social and cultural advances. Users can see the steady global and country increases in the share of individuals using the internet or in mobile cellular subscriptions. Also essential to firm activity, trade, and human development generally, transport and the services that flow from it are crucial to the activities of households, producers, and governments. Air transport data show the upward trend in both the number of air passengers and the volume of air freight.
But markets do not operate in a vacuum. A stable and peaceful political environment is essential to sustained and inclusive economic growth. Here, data seekers can examine trends in central government finances, such as the amount of taxes collected, the profit tax level, or information about military spending and military personnel. Not surprisingly, good statistical capacity is essential for measuring aspects of development and for all evidence-based decision-making.
Featured Indicators
A selection of relevant indicators is presented below. The table shows, for each featured indicator, time coverage per year, for all countries, for each decade since the 1960s, and regional coverage for each World Bank geographical region since 2010. For detailed thematic lists please refer to the World Development Indicators Statistical Tables.
| Business environment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicator | Code | Time coverage | Region coverage | Get data |
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Time required to start a business (days)
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IC.REG.DURS |
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Time required to get electricity (days)
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IC.ELC.TIME |
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Firms expected to give gifts in meetings with tax officials (% of firms)
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IC.TAX.GIFT.ZS |
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Firms with female top manager (% of firms)
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IC.FRM.FEMM.ZS |
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| Financial access and stability | ||||
| Indicator | Code | Time coverage | Region coverage | Get data |
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Depositors with commercial banks (per 1,000 adults)
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FB.CBK.DPTR.P3 |
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Borrowers from commercial banks (per 1,000 adults)
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FB.CBK.BRWR.P3 |
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Commercial bank branches (per 100,000 adults)
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FB.CBK.BRCH.P5 |
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Bank nonperforming loans to total gross loans (%)
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FB.AST.NPER.ZS |
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| Stock markets | ||||
| Indicator | Code | Time coverage | Region coverage | Get data |
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Market capitalization of listed domestic companies (% of GDP)
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CM.MKT.LCAP.GD.ZS |
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Stocks traded, turnover ratio of domestic shares (%)
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CM.MKT.TRNR |
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| Government finance and taxes | ||||
| Indicator | Code | Time coverage | Region coverage | Get data |
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Revenue, excluding grants (current LCU)
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GC.REV.XGRT.CN |
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Expense (current LCU)
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GC.XPN.TOTL.CN |
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Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (current LCU)
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GC.NLD.TOTL.CN |
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Compensation of employees (current LCU)
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GC.XPN.COMP.CN |
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Taxes on goods and services (current LCU)
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GC.TAX.GSRV.CN |
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Profit tax (% of commercial profits)
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IC.TAX.PRFT.CP.ZS |
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Total tax rate (% of commercial profits)
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IC.TAX.TOTL.CP.ZS |
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| Military and fragile situations | ||||
| Indicator | Code | Time coverage | Region coverage | Get data |
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Military expenditure (% of GDP)
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MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS |
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Armed forces personnel, total
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MS.MIL.TOTL.P1 |
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Battle-related deaths (number of people)
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VC.BTL.DETH |
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Intentional homicides (per 100,000 people)
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VC.IHR.PSRC.P5 |
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| Infrastructure and communications | ||||
| Indicator | Code | Time coverage | Region coverage | Get data |
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Air transport, passengers carried
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IS.AIR.PSGR |
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Air transport, freight (million ton-km)
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IS.AIR.GOOD.MT.K1 |
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Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)
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IS.SHP.GOOD.TU |
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Individuals using the Internet (% of population)
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IT.NET.USER.ZS |
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Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people)
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IT.CEL.SETS.P2 |
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Investment in transport with private participation (current US$)
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IE.PPI.TRAN.CD |
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Investment in energy with private participation (current US$)
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IE.PPI.ENGY.CD |
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| Science and innovation | ||||
| Indicator | Code | Time coverage | Region coverage | Get data |
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Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)
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GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS |
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Patent applications, residents
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IP.PAT.RESD |
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Industrial design applications, resident, by count
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IP.IDS.RSCT |
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Scientific and technical journal articles
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IP.JRN.ARTC.SC |
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ICT goods exports (% of total goods exports)
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TX.VAL.ICTG.ZS.UN |
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About the data
Private sector and finance
Business environment
An attractive investment climate relies on rules that are efficient, accessible, and easy to implement. Data on business regulation are sourced from the Doing Business project, which presents 11 sets of indicators used to measure regulation in vital business areas: starting a business, registering property, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, enforcing contracts, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, resolving insolvency, and employing workers. Regulatory data are collected using a standardized survey, based on a simple business case, to ensure comparability across economies and over time, applying the same assumptions about the legal form of the business, its size, its location, and its operation.
Another source of information about an economy’s business environment is the Enterprise Survey project, a set of firm-level surveys drawing on a representative sample of a country’s private business activities. Respondents to enterprise surveys are business owners and top managers. Over 90 percent of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The rest of the questions ask for respondents’ opinions about obstacles to firm growth and performance. The surveys cover, among other topics, finance, corruption, crime, gender, informality, infrastructure, innovation and technology, regulation and taxes, the workforce, and trade.
Entrepreneurship
The rate at which new businesses are added in an economy is a measure of its dynamism and entrepreneurial activity. Data on new business entry are available from the World Bank Entrepreneurship Database, which is part of the Doing Business project. The database has indicators for more than 143 countries based on information on registered businesses collected from national company registers. Only limited liability corporations that operate in the formal sector are included.
Financial access and stability
A well-functioning financial system provides reliable and easily accessible information, which lowers transaction costs, which in turn improves resource allocation and boosts economic growth (Beck and Levine, 2001). At low levels of economic development commercial banks tend to dominate the financial system; at higher levels domestic stock markets are more active and efficient. Access to finance can expand opportunities for all through greater access to and use of banking services. Data on the number of depositors and borrowers from commercial banks, and the availability of bank branches and automated teller machines are sourced from the IMF Financial Access Survey. Information on financial sector stability, such as the bank capital-to-assets ratio or the ratio of bank non-performing loans to total gross loans is obtained from the Financial Soundness Indicators database.
The development and growth of credit markets depends on access to timely, reliable, and accurate data on borrowers’ credit experiences. Access to credit can be improved by making it easy to enter into and enforce collateral agreements and by increasing information about potential borrower creditworthiness so that lenders can look at a borrower’s credit history and collateral. Where there are no credit registries or effective collateral laws, as in many countries, banks make fewer loans. Among indicators that relate to getting credit are the strength of legal rights index and the depth of credit information index, both products of the Doing Business project.
Stock markets
The WDI database provides information on market capitalization of listed domestic companies and market capitalization as a share of GDP as a measure of stock market size, compiled by the World Federation of Exchanges. Many firms in emerging markets now cross-list on international exchanges, which lowers their cost of capital and allows for more liquidity-traded shares. However, it also means that exchanges in emerging markets may not have enough financial activity to sustain them. Cross-country comparability can be limited by conceptual differences or statistical weaknesses, such as inaccurate reporting and differences in accounting standards. Data on the number of listed companies, the total value of stocks traded, and turnover velocity are also available.
Public policies and institutions
Government finance and taxes
In August 2015 the IMF began using the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014) framework for its Government Finance Statistics database. The 2014 framework was incorporated into WDI in April 2016 and the series affected have been adjusted from 1990 onward. Historical series based on the previous (2001) framework, with data up to 2012, can be accessed through the WDI Archives.
The GFSM 2014 framework addresses the measurement of important international economic developments in recent years through better recording and methodological treatment of various types of events. The changes include methodological modifications in the 2008 SNA, clarifications of methodological guidelines, and presentational and editorial changes. The GFSM 2014 is designed to harmonize, to the extent possible, its guidelines with the 2008 SNA, the BPM6, and the Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual. For debt-related issues GFSM 2014 is supplemented by Public Sector Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users. Additional changes have since been required by efforts to harmonize statistical and financial reporting, and new developments in the International Public Sector Accounting Standards.
There are still some differences between GFSM 2014 and the SNA, particularly in how some government production activities are treated, because they serve different analytic purposes. GFSM 2014 measures the impact of economic events like taxing, spending, borrowing, and lending on government finances and on the rest of the economy. The SNA measures production and consumption of goods and services and the savings and investment created in doing so. As a result, the GFSM 2014 and the 2008 SNA treat some government production activities differently. The IMF publishes the complete GFSM 2014 and its previous versions.
For most countries central government finance data have been consolidated into one account, but for others only budgetary central government accounts are available. Countries reporting budgetary data are noted in the country metadata available in the World Development Indicators database. Because budgetary accounts may not cover all central government units (such as social security funds), they usually provide an incomplete picture. In federal states, too, central government accounts give an incomplete view of total public finance. The IMF collects data on government revenue and expense through questionnaires to member countries and from data collected by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Despite IMF efforts to standardize data collection, statistics are often incomplete, untimely, and not comparable across countries. Government finance statistics are reported in local currency. The indicators here are shown as percentages of GDP. Many countries report government finance data by fiscal year. Please see the country metadata for information on fiscal year end by country
Taxes are the main source of revenue for most governments. Sources of tax revenue and their relative contributions are determined by government policy choices about where and how to impose taxes and by changes in the structure of the economy. Tax policy may reflect concerns about distributional effects, economic efficiency (including corrections for externalities), and the practical problems of administering a tax system. There is no ideal level of taxation, but taxes influence incentives and thus the behavior of economic actors and the competitiveness of the economy. The Doing Business project assesses both tax levels paid by businesses as a share of profits and the administrative burden they represent, such as number of payments and time needed to prepare and file taxes.
Military expenditures and armed forces
Although national defense is an important function of government, high spending on defense or civil conflicts burden the economy and may impede growth. Military expenditures as a share of GDP is an approximate indicator of the portion of national resources used for military activities. As an “input” measure, military spending is not directly related to the “output” of military activities, capabilities, or security. Cross-country comparisons should take into account many factors, including historical and cultural traditions, the length of borders that need defending, the quality of relations with neighbors, and the role of the armed forces in the body politic. Data are from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), whose primary source of military expenditure data is official information provided by national governments. These data are derived from budget documents, defense white papers, and other public documents from government agencies, including government responses to questionnaires sent by SIPRI, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, or the OECD and other secondary sources.
Data on military manpower are quantitative assessments of the personnel levels of the world's armed forces. The numbers are based on the most accurate data available or on the best estimate that can be made by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) at the time of its annual publication. The IISS collects the data from national governments. Armed forces personnel comprise all servicemen and women on full-time duty (including conscripts and long-term assignments from reserves). The indicator includes paramilitary forces.
Fragile situations
Recovery and rebuilding from violence associated with armed conflict and with large- and small-scale criminality can take years because of dilapidated infrastructure to be rebuilt, persistently high crime, widespread health problems, education systems in disrepair, or unexploded ordnance. Peacekeeping operations in post-conflict situations have been effective in reducing the risks of reversion to conflict. Data on topics such as battle-related deaths, intentional homicides, and peacekeeping forces is often particularly relevant for conflict and fragile situations. Information sources include the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics Database (), and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
CPIA and statistical capacity
The International Development Association (IDA) is the part of the World Bank Group that helps the poorest countries reduce poverty by providing concessional loans and grants for programs to boost economic growth and improve living conditions. The World Bank's IDA Resource Allocation Index (IRAI) is based on the results of the annual Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) exercise, which covers the IDA-eligible countries. World Bank staff have carried out country assessments annually since the mid-1970s. Over time the criteria have been revised from a largely macroeconomic focus to include governance aspects and a wider variety of social and structural dimensions. Country performance is assessed against 16 criteria grouped into four clusters: economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity, and public-sector management and institutions.
Statistical capacity is a country’s ability to collect, analyze, and disseminate high-quality data about its population and economy. When statistical capacity improves and policymakers use accurate statistics to inform their decisions, the result is better development policy design and outcomes. The Statistical Capacity Indicator is essential for tracking the statistical capacity of World Bank client countries and helps national statistics offices worldwide to identify gaps in their capacity to collect, produce, and use data. Data on statistical capacity come from the Bulletin Board on Statistical Capacity.
Infrastructure
Air transport
Transport infrastructure—highways, railways, ports and waterways, and airports and air traffic control systems—and the services that flow from it are crucial to the activities of households, producers, and governments. The air transport industry is a vital engine of global socio-economic growth. It creates direct and indirect employment, supports tourism and local businesses, and stimulates foreign investment and international trade. The WDI database provides indicators for air freight, the number of departures—measured as domestic takeoffs and takeoffs abroad of air carriers registered in a given country—and the number of domestic and international aircraft passengers of nationally registered air carriers. The data are compiled by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Countries submit air transport data to ICAO that conform to ICAO instructions and definitions. Often, however, ICAO has to compute estimates for nonreporting carriers. Where possible, these estimates are based on previous submissions supplemented by information from carriers, such as flight schedules.
Railways
Unlike roads, where numerous qualified motor vehicle operators can operate anywhere on the network, railways are a restricted transport system with vehicles confined to a fixed guideway. Considering the cost and service characteristics, railways generally are best suited to carry, and can effectively compete for, bulk commodities and containerized freight for distances of 500–5,000 kilometers, and passengers for distances of 50–1,000 kilometers. There are WDI indicators for rail lines, passengers carried, and goods transported. Data are from the International Union of Railways.
Data for transport sectors are not always internationally comparable. Unlike for demographic statistics, national income accounts, and international trade data, the collection of infrastructure data has not been "internationalized."
Port traffic
Measures of port container traffic, often commodities of medium to high value-added, give some indication of economic growth in a country. The data measure the flow of containers from land to sea transport modes and vice versa in 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a standard-size container. The information covers coastal as well as international shipping and is compiled by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Communications
The quality of an economy’s communication infrastructure, notably ICT, is important for both investment decisions and economic development. Comparable statistics on ICT access, use, quality, and affordability are needed to formulate growth-enabling ICT policies and to monitor and evaluate the sector's impact on development. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimates that in 2016 there were more than 7.5 billion mobile phone subscriptions globally. No technology has ever spread faster. Mobile communications are particularly important in rural areas. The mobility, ease of use, flexible deployment, and relatively low and declining rollout costs of wireless technologies enable them to reach rural populations with low levels of income and literacy. The next billion mobile subscribers will consist mainly of the rural poor.
Because operating companies have traditionally been the main source of telecommunications data, in most countries information on subscriptions has been widely available. Subscriptions give a general idea of access, but a more precise measure is the penetration rate—the share of households with access to telecommunications. In the past few years household and business surveys have collected more information on ICT use. Also important are data on actual use of telecommunications services. Ideally, statistics on telecommunications (and other information and communications technologies) should be compiled for all three measures: subscriptions, access, and use.
The quality of data from reporting countries varies as a result of differences in regulations covering data provision and availability. Data from ITU in the WDI database cover the number of people using the Internet, mobile cellular subscriptions, and fixed broadband and telephone subscriptions.
Private participation in infrastructure
Private participation in infrastructure projects has considerably improved the efficiency of infrastructure services and helped to extend delivery to poor people. The public-private partnership time series in the WDI comes from the Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects Database and cover the energy, transport, water & sanitation, and ICT sectors.
The values in the WDI refer to commitments to infrastructure projects that have reached financial closure and directly or indirectly serve the public. Investment commitments refer to investments in facilities and in other government assets. Investments in facilities are the resources the project company commits to invest during the contract period either in new facilities or in expanding and modernizing existing facilities. Investments in government assets are the resources a private company spends on acquiring government assets, such as state-owned enterprises, rights to provide services in a specific area, or use of specific radio spectrums. Data on investment infrastructure projects with private participation are also available in the WDI.
Science and innovation
Research and development (R&D)
The OECD's Frascati Manual defines research and experimental development as creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications. Data on R&D expenditure, as well as the number of researchers and technicians comes from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics.
R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development: (1) Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundation of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view. (2) Applied research is also original investigation undertaken to acquire new knowledge in order to advance a specific practical aim or objective. (3) Experimental development is systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and/or practical experience, which is directed to producing new materials, products, or devices; installing new processes, systems, and services; or substantially improving those already produced or installed.
According to the Revised Fields of Science and Technology Classification, the fields R&D officially covers are natural sciences, engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, agricultural sciences, social sciences. humanities, and the arts. The data are obtained from regularly conducted national statistical surveys of public and private entities engaged in R&D.
Intellectual property
Statistics on patents issued reflect not only the inventive performance of countries, regions, and firms but also other aspects of innovation dynamics, such as cooperation in innovation or technology. The Patent Cooperation Treaty provides highly detailed information on inventive activity and its multiple dimensions (e.g., geographical location, technical and institutional origin, individuals and networks). Intellectual property data can be used to analyze many aspects of technical change and patenting activity, such as industry-science links, company patenting strategies, internationalization of research, and indicators of the value of patents. Information is also available for patent, trademark, and industrial design applications by applicant type (resident and nonresident).
Trade in ICT goods
ICT goods include computers and peripheral equipment, communication equipment, consumer electronic equipment, electronic components, and other information and technology goods. Software is generally excluded because it is often recorded as a service—an ICT product rather than a good. ICT goods are defined according to the OECD’s Guide on Measuring the Information Society 2011 for Harmonized System (HS) 2007 and adapted to HS12 by UNCTAD in collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Division. Detailed methodological information is provided by UNCTAD.
Scientific and technical journal articles
A scientific journal is a periodical intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research in articles that have been peer-reviewed. When scientific journals describe experiments or calculations, they must supply enough details that independent researchers could repeat them to verify the results. WDI data on the number of scientific and technical journal articles come from the National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators report.