Start with the meaning
Every series has a defined measurement, unit, geographic scope and reporting period. A population estimate is not a census count. Economic output is not household income. An annual inflation rate is not a price level.
The initial catalog covers national annual statistics for the United States and Canada from World Bank World Development Indicators. Original publisher methods and notes remain linked from each dataset. Other operator-reviewed sources retain their own definitions and source records.
Compare compatible observations
Country comparisons use the same metric, unit and public vintage, and align on years where both countries have present observations. Missing observations stay missing. We do not fill gaps, average conflicting sources or silently join city and metropolitan boundaries.
Differences between rates are shown in percentage points. Relative percentage change uses (current − prior) ÷ |prior| × 100, and is unavailable when the prior value is zero. Indexed population uses the country’s own 2000 value as a baseline. The full formula and inputs are published with the analysis.
Respect the source limitations
The modeled ILO unemployment and employment indicators in this catalog do not flag every imputed observation. The source warns against using imputed values for country comparisons. We therefore publish separate national views and disable cross-country comparison for those series.
GDP per capita in constant 2015 U.S. dollars is not a purchasing-power-parity measure, a wage or disposable income. Consumer price indexes use country-specific baskets and weights. National averages do not represent every household or region.
Keep dates honest
A reporting year describes the observation. A collection update date describes the source catalog. The retrieval date describes when this site acquired the response. These dates are displayed separately. Where a publisher does not supply the original release date, we say so.
The official source snapshot was retrieved October 3, 2026. It is historical data with varied latest reporting periods, rather than a live feed of current conditions. The edition remains readable when the private pipeline is offline.
Licensing follows the data
Each of the six exact WDI indicators was checked against official metadata, which specifies CC BY 4.0. Source acknowledgment, license links, definitions and caveats accompany exports. This review does not grant blanket rights to all World Bank content, third-party material or branding.
Required WDI attribution: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), uri: https://population.un.org/wpp/, publisher: UN Population Division; Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices, National Statistical Offices (NSOs), uri: https://unstats.un.org/home/nso_sites/, publisher: National Statistical Offices; Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, Eurostat (ESTAT), uri: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database?node_code=earn_ses_monthly, publisher: Eurostat; Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), United Nations (UN), uri: https://unstats.un.org, publisher: UN Statistics Division. Indicator SP.POP.TOTL. Review the World Bank data license and dataset terms. Additional uploads require a reviewed source rights record; restricted exports remain disabled.
A review before a release
Private intake retains the original artifact and source row locators. The operator reviews inferred column roles, definitions, country mappings, missing-value statuses and validation errors. An immutable changeset preview binds approval to specific rows and the current canonical version.
Committing canonical data and publishing it are separate actions. A publication preview checks source metadata and public-display rights, produces immutable artifacts and a signed manifest, and activates a coherent release. Later changes preserve observation revisions and audit history.
Corrections and reproducibility
Corrections create new revisions. Compensating reversal checks for later changes before restoring prior values. Publication rollback activates an earlier signed release; it does not erase canonical history or files already downloaded by readers.
The current public identity is wdi-2026-07-13-b6623fce1b74+release-a5f5bf88-5425-488c-86d2-2ff7fdfe9726. Series JSON and CSV include exact revision and release identifiers. Inspect the public release record or read the source profile.
Coverage still to come
The first catalog has no city-level housing, local wage data, commercial API promise, private customer upload service or causal relationship discovery. New coverage will follow the same reviewed definitions and publication controls.