The World Economic Database (WED) is a harmonised panel of macroeconomic statistics covering 240+ countries and territories, with historical depth reaching back nearly a millennium for some series. This page lists every variable in the database, the unit each one is published in, and the naming conventions that let you predict a series code without looking it up.
How to read this page
Each variable below has three attributes:
- Code — the short identifier used throughout the platform, the API and the Excel add-in.
- Variable — the human-readable name shown on cards, charts and downloads.
- Unit — the unit the values are published in. Read this before comparing or aggregating anything.
Series codes
A variable becomes a series once it is paired with a country and a frequency. Series codes follow one fixed pattern:
{ISO3}_{CODE}_{FREQUENCY}
where ISO3 is the three-letter country code, CODE is the variable code from
this page in upper case, and FREQUENCY is a single letter — A annual,
Q quarterly, M monthly. For example, annual nominal GDP for the United
States is USA_NGDP_A, and monthly US CPI is USA_CPI_M.
Units and conventions
Six unit families appear in the tables below.
| Family | Looks like | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | Million LCU, Million USD |
A monetary amount. LCU = local currency unit, i.e. the country's own currency; USD = US dollars. |
| Ratio | % of GDP |
The variable expressed as a share of nominal GDP for the same country and period. |
| Rate | % |
A rate or percentage in its own right — an interest rate, an inflation rate, a return. |
| Index | 2015=100 |
An index rebased so that the stated year equals 100. Levels are only meaningful relative to that base. |
| Exchange rate | 1 USD in LCU |
How many units of local currency one US dollar buys. |
| Count | Million People, LCU per capita |
A headcount, or a value divided by population. |
Values published in millions
Monetary series are stored denominated in millions, exactly as the source
statistical agencies publish them. A stored value of 52,340 under
Million LCU therefore means 52,340 million — that is, 52.34 billion — not
52,340 units of currency.
The dashboard can render this either way: Settings → Data Preferences →
Number Scale switches between Auto (the true magnitude, so the example above
reads 52.34B LCU) and Millions only (the source denomination, 52.34K Million LCU). Downloads and data tables always keep the raw published value
alongside its original unit, so exported figures match the source exactly.
Local currency and comparability
Series in LCU are in each country's own currency and are not directly
comparable across countries. Use the % of GDP variants for cross-country
comparison, the USD-denominated variants where they exist (CA_USD,
rGDP_USD), or convert using USDfx.
Real vs nominal
An r prefix marks a real (inflation-adjusted) series: rGDP, rGDP_pc,
rHPI. Real GDP is expressed as an index based in 2015, where the base equals
2015 nominal GDP — so rGDP carries the magnitude of a currency series while
behaving like a volume index.
Naming conventions
Once you know these affixes, most codes are self-explanatory.
| Affix | Position | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
_GDP |
suffix | The same variable as a share of nominal GDP | cons_GDP |
_TR |
suffix | Total return (price change plus income) | bond10y_TR |
_USD |
suffix | Denominated in US dollars rather than local currency | CA_USD |
_pc |
suffix | Per capita | rGDP_pc |
r |
prefix | Real, i.e. inflation-adjusted | rHPI |
cgov |
prefix | Central government | cgovdebt |
gen_gov |
prefix | General government (central plus state and local) | gen_govdebt |
Central and general government are reported separately and are not interchangeable: general government is the broader perimeter, so its debt and expenditure figures are typically the larger of the two.
Variables
National accounts and activity
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
nGDP |
Nominal GDP | Million LCU |
rGDP |
Real GDP | 2015 = 2015 nominal GDP in million LCU |
rGDP_USD |
Real GDP (in USD) | 2015 = 2015 nominal GDP in million USD |
rGDP_pc |
Real GDP per capita | LCU per capita |
cons |
Consumption | Million LCU |
cons_GDP |
Consumption (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
hcons |
Household consumption | Million LCU |
gcons |
Government consumption | Million LCU |
inv |
Gross capital formation | Million LCU |
inv_GDP |
Gross capital formation (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
finv |
Gross fixed capital formation | Million LCU |
finv_GDP |
Gross fixed capital formation (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
exports |
Exports | Million LCU |
exports_GDP |
Exports (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
imports |
Imports | Million LCU |
imports_GDP |
Imports (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
Gross capital formation (inv) includes changes in inventories; gross fixed
capital formation (finv) excludes them.
Prices and inflation
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
CPI |
Consumer price index | 2015=100 |
infl |
Inflation rate | % |
HPI |
House price index | 2015=100 |
rHPI |
Real house price index | 2015=100 |
Money, interest rates and exchange rates
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
M0 |
Money supply (M0) | Million LCU |
M1 |
Money supply (M1) | Million LCU |
M2 |
Money supply (M2) | Million LCU |
M3 |
Money supply (M3) | Million LCU |
M4 |
Money supply (M4) | Million LCU |
cbrate |
Central bank policy rate | % |
strate |
Short-term interest rate | % |
ltrate |
Long-term interest rate | % |
USDfx |
US dollar exchange rate | 1 USD in LCU |
REER |
Real effective exchange rate | 2015=100 |
The monetary aggregates are nested, from narrowest (M0) to broadest (M4).
Not every country publishes every aggregate.
Government finance — central government
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
cgovdebt |
Central government debt | Million LCU |
cgovdebt_GDP |
Central government debt (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
cgovdef |
Central government deficit | Million LCU |
cgovdef_GDP |
Central government deficit (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
cgovexp |
Central government expenditure | Million LCU |
cgovexp_GDP |
Central government expenditure (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
cgovrev |
Central government revenue | Million LCU |
cgovrev_GDP |
Central government revenue (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
cgovtax |
Central government tax | Million LCU |
cgovtax_GDP |
Central government tax (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
Government finance — general government
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
gen_govdebt |
General government debt | Million LCU |
gen_govdebt_GDP |
General government debt (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
gen_govdef |
General government deficit | Million LCU |
gen_govdef_GDP |
General government deficit (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
gen_govexp |
General government expenditure | Million LCU |
gen_govexp_GDP |
General government expenditure (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
gen_govrev |
General government revenue | Million LCU |
gen_govrev_GDP |
General government revenue (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
gen_govtax |
General government tax | Million LCU |
gen_govtax_GDP |
General government tax (% of GDP) | % of GDP |
Tax revenue (…tax) is a component of total revenue (…rev).
External sector
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
CA_GDP |
Current account (% of GDP) | % |
CA_USD |
Current account (in USD) | Million USD |
Financial markets
Government and municipal bond yields:
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
bond3m |
3-month government bill yield | % |
bond2y |
2-year government bond yield | % |
bond10y |
10-year government bond yield | % |
tips10y |
10-year inflation-indexed bond yield | % |
muni_yield |
US municipal bond yield | % |
muni20y |
US municipal 20-year bond yield | % |
Total return series — price change plus reinvested income, so they are not comparable with the yield series above:
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
bond3m_TR |
3-month government bill total return | % |
bond2y_TR |
2-year government bond total return | % |
bond10y_TR |
10-year government bond total return | % |
bond_TR |
Long-term government bond total return | % |
tips10y_TR |
10-year inflation-indexed bond total return | % |
muni_TR |
US municipal bond total return | % |
muni20y_TR |
US municipal 20-year bond total return | % |
Equities:
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
eq_price |
Equity price index | Index |
eq_TR_USD |
Equity total return in USD | % |
eq_CAPE |
Equity CAPE ratio | Ratio |
eq_CAPE is the cyclically adjusted price/earnings ratio — price divided by
the ten-year average of inflation-adjusted earnings. The muni… series are
United States only.
Labour and population
| Code | Variable | Unit |
|---|---|---|
unemp |
Unemployment rate | % |
pop |
Population | Million People |
Coverage, frequency and sources
- Countries — 240+ countries and territories, identified by ISO3 code.
- Frequency — annual, quarterly and monthly, depending on the variable and the country. The frequency letter is the last segment of the series code.
- History — coverage varies by country and variable; the deepest annual series run back centuries. Each series carries its own start and end date, shown on the series page.
- Not every variable exists for every country. The dashboard's filters only offer combinations that actually exist, so an empty result means the series is genuinely unavailable rather than mis-specified.
Every series is assembled from multiple upstream statistical sources and chain-linked into one continuous series. The series detail page lists the contributing sources with their individual coverage windows, and lets you view any single source on its own instead of the harmonised result — useful when you need to match a published figure exactly, or to see where a splice occurs.
Using these codes elsewhere
The same variable codes appear across every delivery channel:
- Dashboard — filter by indicator, then open any series for full history, sources and downloads.
- Excel add-in — search by name or code and insert a formatted sheet. See the setup guide.
- REST API — request series by code; the reference and OpenAPI spec are linked from the Delivery card on your dashboard.
Questions about a specific variable, or need one we don't yet publish? Get in touch — coverage requests genuinely shape what we add next.