1. Data updates
On October 8, 2026, the World Development Indicators (WDI) database was updated. This release includes newly available and revised data across key development topics, including:
People
- ▪ Food security and nutrition indicators now include data through 2024, including the prevalence of undernourishment and the prevalence of moderate and severe food insecurity (moderate and severe), sourced from the Food and Agriculture Organization. These provide an updated picture of global food access and resilience, and support the monitoring of SDG Target 2.1 on ending hunger and ensuring access to sufficient food for all.
- ▪ Labor market indicators have been updated with the latest national estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO), including employment-to-population ratios, labor force participation rates, unemployment rates, the share of youth not in employment, education or training (NEET), part-time employment, and the share of women in senior and middle management positions. These indicators are provided with breakdowns by age and sex, where available.
Prosperity
- ▪ Poverty and inequality indicators have been updated through 2025, covering poverty headcount ratios and gaps at the $3.00, $4.20, and $8.30 a day (2021 PPP) poverty lines; societal, national, multidimensional poverty measures; the Gini index and income shares by quintile and decile; and shared prosperity indicators tracking growth in mean consumption or income per capita among the bottom 40 percent and the total population. These updates provide the latest evidence on the levels, distribution, and changes in living standards across economies. For more information, visit the World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform.
- ▪ Purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor for households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure is updated using Consumer Price Index (CPI) data sourced from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) International Financial Statistics (IFS) database. The underlying PPPs are (a) annual PPP estimates published in Eurostat and OECD database for European and OECD countries, and (b) the extrapolated benchmark year PPP estimates produced by International Comparison Program (ICP) for the rest of the World.
- ▪ Balance of payments and cross-border financial flow indicators have been updated with the latest IMF data. Updated series cover foreign direct investment inflows,personal remittances received as a share of GDP, current account balances, and exports and of goods and services. These data provide a more current view of international transactions and financial flows.
- ▪ The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) has been updated with estimates and scores through 2025 for all six dimensions: Control of Corruption, Government Effectiveness, Political Stability, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Voice and Accountability. For more information, visit the Governance Indicators website.
- ▪ Indicators on military expenditure in local currency, US dollars, as a share of GDP and as a share of central government expenditure, as well as indicators for arms transfers (imports and exports) have been updated with the latest values. This data is compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and contribute to the analysis of conflict, fragility, governance, and public resource allocation.
Infrastructure
- ▪ Intellectual property indicators for patent, industrial design, and trademark applications (by resident and non-resident) from the World Intellectual Property Organization have been updated with data for 2022-2024. Intellectual property data can be used in the analysis of a wide array of topics related to technical change and form a consistent basis for comparisons across time and across economies.
Planet
- ▪ New 2024 observations have been added for SDG 7 indicators on access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking, providing updated measures of progress toward clean energy access for total, urban, and rural populations.
- ▪ Energy statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) have been refreshed with 2024 data for non-OECD economies and, for selected electricity indicators, 2025 data for OECD economies, covering energy production, consumption, trade, renewable energy generation, and electricity sector performance.
- ▪ The latest release also incorporates new 2024 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on fertilizer production and use, land use, agricultural area, forests, irrigation, cereal production and yields, together with updated crop, livestock, and food production indexes.
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.