Area Database

The Area Database contains economic well-being and development indicators at the national and sub-national level for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We combine survey data for over 500 recent (1990+) household surveys and other sources for 130+ developing countries and almost 1,500 subnational regions.

Map visualisations

Our world maps allow the visualization of any indicator across all countries for which data is available at a given point in time. Subnational indices can also be displayed on the map showing differences within countries.

Charts

Our bubble charts allow the joint visualization of three indicators of development at the national or subnational level while simultaneously highlighting differences across continents at any given point in time.

Data tables

We provide easy to navigate data tables displaying the indicator information in a grid-like format of rows and columns. Information is available along three dimensions: (i) country, (ii) time, and (iii) choice of indicator(s).

Profile reports

Profile reports provide an overview of the major social and economic characteristics of a region or country. The figures are derived from the most recent national household survey available at the Global Data Lab.

Rankings

We provide a decile ranking of all sub-national index data highlighting the position of the subnational regions in comparison to other regions around the globe.

Downloads

To download our data tables in Excel or CSV format, a free-of-charge registration with GDL is necessary. Registration takes less than 5 minutes. Sub-samples as well as complete datasets can be downloaded.

How to cite us

For data retrieved from the Area Database, please refer to both the data and the accompanying paper: