The next time you visit your smart phone's AppStore, consider downloading an app that will both entertain and inform you.
MacroStats to Go (WB MacroStats) puts one of the world’s largest economic databases in the palm of your hand.
The new free app combines innovation, simplicity and portability as it delivers the latest country-by-country statistics on poverty, unemployment, inflation rates, remittance flows—37 indicators in all. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
What’s the latest on your country’s economic growth, or export earnings? Or even better, how does it compare with countries at a similar level of development? What’s the economic situation in a country that you heard mentioned in the news, but about which you don’t know much?
All that and more can be obtained by exploring the app. You can select one or many countries from a global map and compare up to 37 economic indicators about them. You can look at the latest data or go back as far as 1980.
You can easily identify countries with similar characteristics around the globe and take advantage of dynamic charts which show countries’ evolution over time. All of this, on your mobile device, is available without even having to be online.
“In a world of proliferating information and changing formats, organizations such as the World Bank Group need to get ahead of the curve and exploit the potential of technology and mobile devices to promote open access to data,” said Marcelo Giugale, World Bank Senior Director of the Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management Global Practice, which developed the app.
The app draws from the Bank Group’s open data initiative (WDI data) and has been specifically designed for mobile platforms, including iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. It is now available to download from Apple Store and Google Play.
