World Bank

Want to know how many people have electricity in Kenya, or how fast the Brazilian economy grew last year, or what share of Indian children go to school? This is where those numbers come from. The World Bank collects the most reliable development data from around the world, covering everything from income and jobs to health and education. It's the go-to source when journalists write 'according to World Bank data' or when researchers compare countries.

How rich are the richest 10% compared to the poorest 10%? This dataset breaks that down. For each country and year, you get 100 data points showing exactly where people fall along the income or consumption ladder. The World Bank compiled this from household surveys across 151+ countries, stretching back decades in some cases. You can see whether inequality is growing or shrinking, whether the middle class is being squeezed, and how one country compares to another. All the numbers are adjusted to a common currency (2021 PPP dollars) so comparisons make sense.

How many adults have a bank account? Who saves money and how? Who borrows, and from where? This dataset answers those questions for 165+ countries over the past 15 years. The World Bank surveys adults about whether they own accounts, use mobile money, borrow from banks or phone-based lenders, make digital payments, use debit cards, and pay bills or shop online. You can see the numbers for the whole adult population, or drill down by gender, age, education, income level, whether someone lives in a city or rural area, and whether they work. It's the most comprehensive picture of financial access globally, updated every few years as new surveys roll in.

How many more people moved into a country than left it, every five years since 1962. When a country has positive net migration, more people are arriving than departing. Negative numbers mean more people are leaving. This helps answer questions like whether immigration is helping countries with shrinking populations, or which regions are experiencing the biggest demographic changes from people moving.

China and India have over a billion people each, while small island nations have just thousands. This dataset shows how many people live in every country, year by year, going back to 1960. You can see which countries are growing fast, which are shrinking, and how populations have changed over decades. It's the kind of data you'd use if you wanted to compare population trends between countries or understand how global demographics have shifted.

How long people are expected to live when they're born, broken down by country and year. When you hear 'life expectancy in Japan is 84 years,' this is the data behind it. You can see which countries have the longest lifespans, track how a country's numbers have improved over decades, and spot where health crises (like pandemics or wars) caused life expectancy to drop.