Published on Data Blog

You asked, we listened - open data now in 18 languages

Maryna Taran

November 26, 2013

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We ask users of our open data from around the world to send us feedback. The journalists, researchers, students, developers and others we hear from, frequently ask for one thing: to make data available and accessible to the public in their local language.

A student in Indonesia asking for World Bank data in his local language

We listened, and as part of an effort to expand access to our data, we've translated the most popular 70 indicators from the World Development Indicators into 18 local languages - spoken by over 1 billion people around the world.

Country pages and downloads of selected data in local languages

As a result, country pages for Albania, Angola, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Germany, Guinea Bissau, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Rep., Korea, Dem. Rep., Macedonia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Sao Tome and Principe, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam are now available to users in their local languages.

Hindi, Mongolian and Bahasa Indonesian Country Pages

Our aim is that by translating the country pages into languages used within those countries, we will expand the number of users that benefit from the open data initiative beyond those who speak English, French, Spanish, Arabic or Chinese.

Download data in Portuguese on the Brazil country page

Now users that are viewing a country page on the data site are able to download data for that country in their own language. The download file contains translated indicator names and metadata descriptions.

And remember - World Development Indicators (WDI) data are already available in over 30 languages through Google’s Public Data Explorer and some data are featured in the local versions of Google Search.

Apart from WDI data, localized country pages also provide basic translated information on:

World Bank Projects and Operations data – the amount of IBRD/IDA operations approved by fiscal year, and the number of new and supplemental projects by fiscal year

World Bank Finances data - summary of IBRD/IDA loans (also available in five additional languages)

Climate change data - average monthly temperature data and average monthly rainfall data

Surveys – link to access the microdata website

Now we would like to hear from you - are these improvements useful? Do you have stories about how data in local languages is benefiting your country? Or do you have additional suggestions for improving your experience with the open data resources? Send your ideas to data@worldbank.org or post them on the user forum!

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Authors

Maryna Taran

Development Data Consultant

More Blogs By Maryna

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