The Global Consumption Database is a one-stop source of data on household consumption patterns in developing countries. It is designed to serve a wide range of users—from researchers seeking data for analytical studies to businesses seeking a better understanding of the markets into which they are expanding or those they are already serving.

The data are based on national household surveys, which collect information for a group of households representative of the entire country. For each of the countries covered, the resulting datasets have been used to calculate the share of the population at different levels of consumption.

Four levels of consumption are used to segment the market in each country: lowest, low, middle, and higher. They are based on global income distribution data, which rank the global population by income per capita. The lowest consumption segment corresponds to the bottom half of the global distribution, or the 50th percentile and below; the low consumption segment to the 51th–75th percentiles; the middle consumption segment to the 76th–90th percentiles; and the higher consumption segment to the 91st percentile and above.

The Global Consumption Database is the most comprehensive data source to date on consumer spending patterns in developing countries. It builds on the 2007 report The Next 4 Billion, published by IFC (a member of the World Bank Group) and the World Resources Institute.

Read more information on the data sources and the process used for standardizing the data.

The database will be periodically updated as new data become available.