1. Data updates
On April 8, 2026, the World Development Indicators (WDI) database was updated. This release includes newly available and revised data across key development topics, including:
People
- ▪ Key demographic indicatorshave been updated with 2024 data, providing the latest insights on birth rates, death rates, fertility (adolescent and total), as well as life expectancy (female, male, total, adult mortality rates (female, male), and survival to age 65 (female, male), offering a comprehensive and up-to-date view of global demographic trends.
- ▪ Child mortality indicators have been updated with 2024 data, covering both mortality rates and the number of deaths for children under five (rates, numbers), neonates (rates, numbers), and infants (rates, numbers), disaggregated by sex. Related indicators—including the probability of dying and the number of deaths by 5-year age groups between ages 5 and 24, also by sex—have been refreshed. These updates draw on the latest estimates from the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, supporting monitoring progress toward SDG target 3.2.
- ▪ Child malnutrition indicators have been updated with the latest data, including stunting, wasting severe wasting, underweight, and overweight prevalence. These indicators help track progress and target interventions to address both undernutrition and overweight among children (SDG target 2.2). The estimates come from the Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates, providing a global benchmark for monitoring child nutrition outcomes.
- ▪ Cause-of-death data now include updates through 2021, with expanded detail on COVID-19 and other major causes. This provides a clearer picture of health challenges and supports evidence-based action. See the New Indicators section.
- ▪ The proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments is now available for 2025, measuring the share of seats held by women in single or lower chambers. As SDG indicator 5.5.1, it reflects the extent to which women have equal access to parliamentary decision-making and opportunities in political and public life.
- ▪ Women, Business and the Law (WBL) 2.0 now replaces the previous index (Women Business and the Law Index Score (scale 1-100)), offering a more complete picture of gender equality in laws and regulations. See the New Indicators section.
Prosperity
- ▪ Purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factors for gross domestic product (GDP) (PA.NUS.PPP, local currency unit (LCU) per international dollar) for Eurostat and OECD economies have been updated, including for 2025, using the latest data released in March 2026 in the Eurostat and OECD databases. For other economies, extrapolated PPPs released in December 2025, based on benchmark-year estimates produced through the International Comparison Program (ICP), remain unchanged and will be updated to incorporate 2025 data in the July 2026 WDI release.
- ▪ PPP conversion factors for households and NPISH final consumption expenditure (PA.NUS.PRVT.PP, LCU per international dollar) have been updated to include 2025. The 2025 data are extrapolated from the International Comparison Program (ICP) benchmark PPPs and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data (FP.CPI.TOTL) from the IMF’s International Financial Statistics (IFS) database. For the United States, since the official October 2025 CPI was unavailable, World Bank staff estimated it as the average of the official September and November 2025 values. The 2025 annual CPI was then calculated as the average of the 11 available monthly values (January–September and November–December) plus the estimated October value. For Eurostat and OECD economies, values are unchanged, reflecting the most recent data in their respective databases. The indicator name has also been updated from “private consumption” to “households and NPISH final consumption expenditure” to align with the System of National Accounts (SNA) terminology. Users referencing this indicator by name should update their references accordingly.
- ▪ New Enterprise Survey results offer insights into the current business environment, based on firm-level surveys with top managers and business owners. These include average time to clear exports through customs, firms exporting directly at least 10% of sales, and firms monitoring their CO2 emissions for Denmark, Egypt, Arab Rep., Fiji, Gabon, Germany, Kosovo, Maldives, Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Zimbabwe. All datasets and documentation are available on the Enterprise Survey data portal. The list of ongoing and upcoming projects is on the project schedule page.
- ▪ Stock market data capturing the scale and activity of domestic equity markets, including market capitalization, number of listed companies, and trading volume.
Planet
- ▪ Electricity and energy use indicators include the latest data on electricity generation by source: coal, hydro, natural gas, renewables etc. They also cover energy efficiency and per-capita energy consumption to track energy trends and assess progress toward cleaner energy.
Digital
- ▪ The latest country values for the internet access data (total, male, and female), mobile cellular subscriptions (total and per 100 people), fixed broadband subscriptions (total and per 100 people), and fixed telephone subscriptions (total and per 100 people) have been added.
A complete list of indicators included in this update can be accessed here and the data is available through the Open Data site, DataBank, the Data Catalog, and via API.