World Development Indicators 2011

Abstract

World development indicators 2011, the 15th edition in its current format, aims to provide relevant, high-quality, internationally comparable statistics about development and the quality of people's lives around the globe. Fifteen years ago, World development indicators was overhauled and redesigned, organizing the data to present an integrated view of development, with the goal of putting these data in the hands of policymakers, development specialists, students, and the public in a way that makes the data easy to use. Although there have been small changes, the format has stood the test of time, and this edition employs the same sections as the first one: world view, people, environment, economy, states and markets, and global links. This edition focuses on the impact of the decision to make data freely available under an open license and with better online tools. To help those who wish to use and reuse the data in these new ways, the section introductions discuss key issues in measuring the economic and social phenomena described in the tables and charts and introduce new sources of data. The choice of indicators and text content was shaped through close consultation with and substantial contributions from staff in the World Bank's four thematic networks sustainable development, human development, poverty reduction and economic management, and financial and private sector development and staff of the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.