Summary: What’s new in WDI?
The “What’s New” series accompanies the World Development Indicators database updates and provides information about which indicators have been added, updated, or removed in the database and details about these changes to help people make better use of the data.
February 2026 update: On February 24, 2026, the latest update to the World Development Indicators (WDI) database introduces the Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+), which expands the measurement of human capital to include job-relevant skills and economic participation, with data by sex from 2010 to 2025. This release also features updated cross-border financial flow data from the IMF, including foreign direct investment, portfolio equity flows, and personal remittances, as well as improved government finance metrics consistent with recent source data.
1. Data updates
On February 24, 2026, the World Development Indicators (WDI) database was updated. This release includes:
Prosperity
- ▪ Cross-border financial flow data has been updated based on the latest balance of payments figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It now includes new and revised information for foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows and outflows, portfolio equity flows, and personal remittances received and paid. The GDP-ratio indicators for FDI net inflows and outflows as a percentage of GDP have also been updated to reflect the most recent flow data and macroeconomic figures.
- ▪ Government finance indicators, including Net lending (+) / net borrowing (–), Revenue excluding grants, and Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP, have been updated to improve internal consistency. These changes correct processing routines from the current local currency value series and address earlier issues in some historical data. Revised estimates are now fully aligned with the latest government finance source datasets.
2. New indicators
Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+)
The Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) is now available in the WDI, providing expanded measurement of human capital outcomes across countries from 2010 to 2025, in five-year intervals.
The original Human Capital Index (HCI) measured the expected productivity of a child born today by age 18, using five indicators covering survival, education, and health. Scores ranged from 0 to 1, indicating how closely a child’s projected productivity approached the benchmark of full health and high-quality education.
HCI+ builds on this foundation and broadens the framework to include job-relevant dimensions of human capital. Alongside health and education, HCI+ incorporates indicators for on-the-job learning and economic participation. The index estimates the productivity of a child born today as a future worker, relative to a benchmark of complete education, full health, and full employment in wage work.
WDI features:
- ▪ The overall HCI+ score
- ▪ Pillar-specific scores (health, education, on-the-job learning)
- ▪ Disaggregation by sex (total, female, male)
Following the 2025 update cycle, HCI+ will replace the original HCI as the primary human capital index. The previous HCI series will remain archived in the World Bank Data Catalog for reference and reproducibility. For more information, visit the Human Capital Data Portal.
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.
3. List of discontinued indicators (including WDI Database Archives)