📊 World Bank Indicators

April 18, 2026 · View on GitHub

Purpose: Defines when and how 144 World Bank indicators should be used in Riksdagsmonitor article generation and analysis documents under the v3.0 World Bank protocol/inventory schema. Includes both Chart.js templates (for HTML articles) and Mermaid templates (for .md analysis files).

🎯 Decision Framework: When to Include World Bank Data

Always Include (every article)

  • GDP Growth and Unemployment — universal economic context
  • Any indicator matching the article's detected committee (see indicator-policy-mapping.md)
  • Gender dimension when available (e.g., male/female unemployment split)

Include When Relevant (policy-matched)

  • Match indicators to the article's policy domains (detected from proposition text, motion subject, committee assignment)
  • Use view analysis/worldbank/indicators-inventory.json to identify policy-matched indicators; if helper logic such as findRelevantIndicators(policyArea) is used, treat the JSON inventory as the authoritative source it is backed by
  • For labor topics: include youth unemployment, labor participation by gender
  • For defense topics: include NATO 2% trajectory and armed forces data
  • For governance topics: include all 6 WGI indicators (source=75)

Include for Comprehensive Context (monthly/weekly reviews)

  • Full Nordic comparison with all 144 indicators
  • Trend analysis showing 10-year trajectories
  • All 6 governance indicators for democratic health assessment
  • Demographic aging and migration trends

📋 Use Cases by Indicator Category

1. Economic Indicators — Fiscal Policy & Budget Debates

When to use: Any proposition involving budget allocation, fiscal policy, economic reform, tax changes.

Key scenarios:

ScenarioIndicatorsChart Type
Budget proposition (FiU)GDP Growth, Inflation, Gov Expenditure, Tax RevenueBar comparison + trend
Economic crisis debateGDP Growth, Unemployment, Inflation, Current AccountMulti-line trend
EU trade agreementTrade %, Exports %, FDINordic comparison
Currency/monetary policyInflation, GDP Growth, Current AccountTrend + comparison

Example Chart.js config for budget debate:

{
  "chartType": "economic-comparison",
  "type": "bar",
  "data": {
    "labels": ["Sweden", "Denmark", "Norway", "Finland", "Germany"],
    "datasets": [{
      "label": "GDP Growth 2024 (%)",
      "data": [0.82, 1.5, 0.7, 0.3, -0.1],
      "backgroundColor": ["#00d9ff", "#ff006e", "#ffbe0b", "#8BC34A", "#9d4edd"]
    }]
  },
  "options": {
    "responsive": true,
    "plugins": { "legend": { "labels": { "color": "#e0e0e0" } } },
    "scales": {
      "y": { "ticks": { "color": "#b0b0b0" }, "grid": { "color": "rgba(255,255,255,0.06)" } },
      "x": { "ticks": { "color": "#b0b0b0" }, "grid": { "color": "rgba(255,255,255,0.06)" } }
    }
  }
}

2. Tax Revenue — Taxation Policy (SkU)

When to use: Tax reform proposals, fiscal capacity debates, income redistribution discussions.

Key insight: Sweden historically has one of the highest tax-to-GDP ratios among OECD countries. This context is critical when analyzing:

  • Tax reduction proposals (context: what % of GDP is at stake)
  • Revenue impact of proposed changes
  • Nordic comparison (is Sweden converging or diverging?)

Chart recommendation: Stacked bar showing tax revenue % vs. GDP growth across Nordic countries.

3. Military Expenditure — Defense Policy (FöU)

When to use: Any defense-related article. This is one of the most politically significant indicators given:

  • NATO accession (2024) and the 2% of GDP spending target
  • Sweden's historical low military spending vs. post-2022 security environment
  • Cross-party consensus on increased defense spending

Key scenarios:

ScenarioChart TypeData Points
NATO target trackingTrend line + 2% target annotation10-year Sweden trend
Nordic defense comparisonBar chartSE, DK, NO, FI military %
Defense budget propositionCombined: trend + comparison5-year trend + Nordic

Example trend with target annotation (uses chartjs-plugin-annotation@3.0.1, matching the checked-in runtime asset under js/lib/):

{
  "chartType": "economic-trend",
  "type": "line",
  "data": {
    "labels": ["2019", "2020", "2021", "2022", "2023", "2024"],
    "datasets": [{
      "label": "Sweden Military Expenditure (% GDP)",
      "data": [1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.3, 1.5, 1.7],
      "borderColor": "#00d9ff",
      "backgroundColor": "rgba(0,217,255,0.2)",
      "borderWidth": 2
    }]
  },
  "options": {
    "responsive": true,
    "plugins": {
      "annotation": {
        "annotations": {
          "natoTarget": {
            "type": "line",
            "yMin": 2.0, "yMax": 2.0,
            "borderColor": "#ff006e",
            "borderDash": [6, 6],
            "label": { "display": true, "content": "NATO 2% target", "color": "#ff006e" }
          }
        }
      },
      "legend": { "labels": { "color": "#e0e0e0" } }
    },
    "scales": {
      "y": { "title": { "display": true, "text": "% of GDP", "color": "#e0e0e0" }, "ticks": { "color": "#b0b0b0" }, "grid": { "color": "rgba(255,255,255,0.06)" } },
      "x": { "ticks": { "color": "#b0b0b0" }, "grid": { "color": "rgba(255,255,255,0.06)" } }
    }
  }
}

4. Health & Social Indicators — Welfare Policy (SoU)

When to use: Healthcare reform proposals, eldercare debates, pandemic response, demographic policy.

Key insight: Sweden's relatively low hospital beds per capita (1.9/1000) vs. Germany (~7.8/1000) is a recurring political issue. Combined with high health expenditure (11.2% GDP), this creates a "spending efficiency" debate.

Chart recommendation: Nordic health system radar chart (expenditure, physicians, beds, life expectancy).

5. Education & R&D — Human Capital (UbU)

When to use: Education reform, research funding, university governance, innovation policy.

Key insight: Sweden's R&D expenditure (~3.4% GDP) is among the highest globally. Education expenditure (~7.3% GDP) is also high. These indicators contextualize debates about whether spending translates to outcomes.

Chart recommendation: Education + R&D spending Nordic comparison with school enrollment overlay.

6. Governance Indicators — Democratic Health (KU)

When to use: Constitutional oversight debates, government scrutiny, press freedom, judicial independence.

Key insight: Sweden consistently ranks near the top on Rule of Law, Voice & Accountability, and Government Effectiveness. Any decline is politically significant and newsworthy.

Chart recommendation: Governance radar chart comparing Sweden to Nordic peers.

7. Environment — Climate Policy (MJU)

When to use: Climate legislation, emissions targets, green transition, energy policy.

Key insight: Sweden has relatively low CO₂ per capita among developed nations but faces debates about nuclear energy, fossil fuel phase-out, and green industrial policy.

Chart recommendation: CO₂ emissions trend line + Nordic comparison.

🔧 MCP Tool Integration for AI Agents

How AI agents should fetch World Bank data:

  1. Detect policy domains from the article's source documents (propositions, motions, etc.)
  2. Map domains to indicators using the committee mapping above
  3. Fetch data using World Bank MCP tools:
# Economic indicators (8 available via MCP)
get-economic-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="GDP_GROWTH", years=10)
get-economic-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="UNEMPLOYMENT", years=10)
get-economic-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="INFLATION", years=10)
get-economic-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="GDP_PER_CAPITA", years=10)
get-economic-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="EXPORTS_GDP", years=10)
get-economic-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="FDI_NET", years=10)
get-economic-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="GNI", years=10)
get-economic-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="GNI_PER_CAPITA", years=10)

# Social indicators (5 available via MCP)
get-social-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="POPULATION", years=10)
get-social-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="LIFE_EXPECTANCY", years=10)
get-social-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="BIRTH_RATE", years=10)
get-social-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="DEATH_RATE", years=10)
get-social-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="INTERNET_USERS", years=10)

# Education indicators (2 available via MCP)
get-education-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="EDUCATION_EXPENDITURE", years=10)
get-education-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="SCHOOL_ENROLLMENT", years=10)

# Health indicators (3 available via MCP)
get-health-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="HEALTH_EXPENDITURE", years=10)
get-health-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="PHYSICIANS", years=10)
get-health-data(countryCode="SE", indicator="HOSPITAL_BEDS", years=10)
  1. Also fetch Nordic comparison for the most relevant indicators:
# For each relevant indicator, also fetch:
get-economic-data(countryCode="DK", indicator="...", years=5)
get-economic-data(countryCode="NO", indicator="...", years=5)
get-economic-data(countryCode="FI", indicator="...", years=5)
get-economic-data(countryCode="DE", indicator="...", years=5)
  1. Generate Chart.js config using canonical chart types: economic-comparison, economic-trend, nordic-radar
  2. Embed in article using data-chart-config attribute on <canvas> elements

📊 Country Codes Reference

CountryISO Alpha-2 (MCP)ISO Alpha-3 (REST)Color
SwedenSESWE#00d9ff (cyan)
DenmarkDKDNK#ff006e (magenta)
NorwayNONOR#ffbe0b (yellow)
FinlandFIFIN#8BC34A (green)
GermanyDEDEU#9d4edd (purple)

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