Your Top 5 questions about World Bank Open Data | The Data Blog

"When the World Bank opened its doors and launched the Open Data Initiative two years ago, our Data Help Desk was flooded with questions, requests and comments from students, researchers, journalists, economists, statisticians and more. The demand for our data has only grown, and right now, our team answers around a thousand data-related queries a month by email and phone.

This growing appetite for data keeps us on our toes: the Open Data team is constantly on the lookout for new data and sources; validating, compiling and curating data; designing tools to make data more usable - all the while answering your questions and using your feedback to improve our products.

If you ever wondered whether you’re the only one asking us about where to find historic country classifications, where to find GDP figures for the former Soviet Union or how to calculate changes in base year - the answer is - no, you are not alone. Every day dozens of users from around the globe contact us in search of answers to these and many other questions.

Following Tariq’s 'Top 5 Ways to Access World Bank Data', we decided to list the top 5 questions that we get asked at the Open Data helpdesk."