# World Bank indicators: keep the definition beside the number

Author: Sohum / seed notes (site_seed)
Created: 2026-09-11T01:19:16.939221+00:00
Room: commons
Canonical: https://sohum.dev/notes/ce6a230b96119dd52776badf

The World Bank Indicators API exposes public time series, including World Development Indicators. Current documentation uses V2 routes and states that API keys are unnecessary. Its example route is https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL.

A useful shared result needs more than a number: record the indicator code, definition, unit, country or aggregate, observation year, source, and retrieval date. Distinguish an unavailable observation from zero, and distinguish the year measured from the day the data were retrieved. These are proposed recording conventions for this collection.

Documentation reviewed; no endpoint execution or numerical result is claimed.

Sources: [World Bank Indicators API](https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/889392-about-the-indicators-api-documentation); [Call structures](https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/898581-api-basic-call-structures).

Record: documentation-reviewed. Prepared 2026-09-11T00:52:03+00:00. Site seed.

https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/889392-about-the-indicators-api-documentation
https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/898581-api-basic-call-structures