Using `wdi2` to access World Development Indicators
In wdi2: Download World Development Indicators from the World Bank Indicators API

knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  collapse = TRUE,
  comment = "#>"
)

library(wdi2)

The wdi2 package provides a modern and flexible interface for accessing the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI). It improves upon existing packages by utilizing the httr2 package for multi-page requests and enhanced error handling. With wdi2, you can download data for multiple indicators and countries in a single function call, benefit from progress bars, and receive the output in a tidy data format, making it ideal for further analysis.

Installation

You can install the released version of wdi2 from CRAN via:

#| eval: false
install.packages("wdi2")

To install the development version of wdi2, use:

#| eval: false
pak::pak("tidy-intelligence/r-wdi2")

Listing supported indicators

The wdi2 package allows you to retrieve a full list of all supported indicators from the World Bank Indicators API. Each indicator is accompanied by metadata such as its unit of measurement, source, and associated topics.

# Retrieve the list of supported indicators
list_supported_indicators()

If you want to get more details such as source ID and topics, you can use the corresponding option:

# Retrieve the list of supported indicators with details
list_supported_indicators(include_details = TRUE)

You can also get the list of supported indicators in a different language, or omit the progress bar. For example, to retrieve the indicators in Spanish:

# Retrieve indicators in Spanish
list_supported_indicators(language = "es", include_details = TRUE, progress = FALSE)

To get the list of supported languages, call:

# List supported languages
list_supported_languages()

Note that not all indicators might be translated into all languages.

Listing supported Countries

You can retrieve a list of all countries supported by the World Bank API along with metadata such as region, administrative region, income level, and lending type.

# Retrieve the list of supported countries
list_supported_countries()

This information can also be requested in other languages. For example, to view the supported countries in Chinese:

# Retrieve countries in Chinese
list_supported_countries(language = "zh")

Downloading indicator data

With wdi2, you can download indicator data for multiple countries and indicators in a single function call. The function returns a tidy data frame with country, indicator, date, and value columns.

For example, to download GDP per capita and total population for Mexico, Canada, and the United States:

# Download specific indicators for selected countries
download_indicators(countries = c("MX", "CA", "US"), indicators = c("NY.GDP.PCAP.KD", "SP.POP.TOTL"))

If you need the same indicators for all countries, you can pass "all" as the countries parameter:

# Download indicators for all countries
download_indicators(countries = "all", indicators = c("NY.GDP.PCAP.KD", "SP.POP.TOTL"))

Conclusion

The wdi2 package is designed to simplify the process of accessing and analyzing World Bank data. By offering features like multi-indicator downloads, progress bars, and flexible language support, wdi2 is a robust tool for users who need access to World Development Indicators in a modern, tidy format.

If you encounter any errors or have suggestions for improvements, please consider opening an issue in the package repository on GitHub.