Development Data Group

The Development Data Group is dedicated to realizing the World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives’ new global vision on data, grounded in the principles of value, equity, and trust. By using data to power development, we help achieve the World Bank's mission to create a world free from poverty on a livable planet.

The economic and social value of data comes from sharing it, reusing it, and combining it with other information to create insights. That is why:

- we share tens of thousands of World Bank data assets with millions of users around the world, for free, including all the code and visualizations from our 2023 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals,

- we are leaders at the forefront of data innovations from public-private data integration to machine learning, natural language processing, geospatial data analytics, and more, and

- we promote and enable data use and literacy around the globe to make sure data is actively used by policymakers and citizens to improve lives and safeguard the planet.

Data can help us ensure that no person or country is left behind. To guarantee that data systems, infrastructure, and trade include both poorer communities and countries equitably:

- we monitor national statistical capacity and provide strategy planning support and technical capacity development for national statistical systems,

- we help develop new statistical methods and data collection activities through strengthening household survey systems and improving the quality of microdata,

- we enhance debt transparency to help better gauge countries' economic outlook by compiling external debt statistics and producing income classifications for economies, and

- we produce key price statistics, such as purchasing power parities and diet cost and affordability indicators, that allow us to compare the world’s economies, measure global poverty and food security, and track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Underpinning it all is trust: people and systems must be protected from data misuse, while opportunities for safe new uses of data abound. To prevent potential harms, including cybercrime and discrimination:

- we promote data transparency and integrity by opening data for public goods, including through our Global Data Facility trust fund, and

- we advocate for robust legal and regulatory frameworks that create an environment of trust around the world.