Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

February 12, 2026 · View on GitHub

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This FAQ is compiled from GitHub Issues and common user questions.

Table of Contents

  1. Installation & Setup
  2. Data Download Issues
  3. Country & Region Selection
  4. Indicator Selection
  5. Data Formats & Options
  6. Metadata & Updates
  7. Error Messages

Installation & Setup

Q: What is the minimum Stata version required?

wbopendata requires Stata 12 or later.

Q: How do I install wbopendata?

From SSC (Recommended):

ssc install wbopendata, replace

From GitHub (Development Version):

net install wbopendata, from("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jpazvd/wbopendata/main/src/") replace

Q: I get "_countrymetadata command is unrecognized" error

This usually means you have an incomplete installation. Reinstall with:

ssc install wbopendata, replace all

Make sure all auxiliary files are installed. See Issue #4.

Data Download Issues

Q: I get "Failed to access data" or connection errors

Possible causes:

  1. Network issues: Check your internet connection
  2. Firewall/Proxy: Some institutional networks block API access
  3. World Bank API downtime: Check World Bank API status

Solutions:

* Try with a simple indicator first
wbopendata, indicator(SP.POP.TOTL) clear

* If behind proxy, configure Stata's proxy settings
set httpproxy on
set httpproxyhost "your.proxy.host"
set httpproxyport 8080

See Issue #37.

Q: How do I specify a particular version of the WDI dataset?

The World Bank API does not support version-specific queries. The API always returns the latest available data. For reproducibility:

  1. Document the download date in your code
  2. Save a local copy of the downloaded data
  3. Use the World Bank Databank for archived versions

See Issue #49.

Country & Region Selection

Q: How do I download data for specific countries only?

Use 3-letter ISO country codes separated by semicolons:

* Single country
wbopendata, indicator(NY.GDP.MKTP.CD) country(USA) clear

* Multiple countries
wbopendata, indicator(NY.GDP.MKTP.CD) country(USA;BRA;CHN;IND) clear

Q: How do I filter out aggregates and get only individual countries?

After download, filter using the region variable:

wbopendata, indicator(SP.POP.TOTL) clear long

* Keep only individual countries (exclude aggregates)
drop if region == ""
* OR
keep if regionname != "Aggregates"

See Issue #54.

Q: AFE (Africa Eastern) and AFW (Africa Western) are not marked as aggregates

This is a known issue with World Bank's regional classification. These are regional aggregates but may be classified differently. Use caution when filtering.

See Issue #47.

Indicator Selection

Q: How do I find indicator codes?

Option 1: Browse the help files

help wbopendata_sourceid
help wbopendata_topicid

Option 2: Use the World Bank website Visit data.worldbank.org/indicator and look for the indicator code in the URL.

Option 3: Download by topic first

* Download all Education indicators (topic 4)
wbopendata, topics(4) clear

Q: How do I download multiple indicators?

Separate indicator codes with semicolons (no spaces):

wbopendata, indicator(NY.GDP.MKTP.CD;SP.POP.TOTL;SE.PRM.ENRR) clear long

Data Formats & Options

Q: What's the difference between wide and long format?

Wide format (default): Each year is a separate variable (yr1990, yr1991, ...)

wbopendata, indicator(SP.POP.TOTL) clear

Long format: Year is a single variable with one row per country-year

wbopendata, indicator(SP.POP.TOTL) clear long

Q: How do I get only the latest available value?

Use the latest option:

wbopendata, indicator(SP.POP.TOTL) clear long latest

Q: How do I specify a year range?

Use the year() option:

* Years 2000-2020
wbopendata, indicator(SP.POP.TOTL) year(2000:2020) clear long

Metadata & Updates

Q: How do I update the indicator list?

* Check for updates
wbopendata, update check

* Download new indicator metadata
wbopendata, update all

Q: I get "varlist not allowed" when running update

Make sure you have a clean Stata session:

clear all
wbopendata, update check

See Issue #46 - fixed in v17.1.

Q: How do I suppress the metadata display?

Use the nometadata option:

wbopendata, indicator(SP.POP.TOTL) clear nometadata

Error Messages

This was a parsing error with URLs in metadata. Fixed in v17.1.

See Issue #45.

Q: "Option -latest- breaks when indicator names are too long"

Fixed in v17.1. Update to the latest version:

ssc install wbopendata, replace

See Issue #33.

Q: match() option doesn't work as documented

The match() option cannot be combined with indicator download options. Use it separately:

* WRONG: This won't work
wbopendata, indicator(SP.POP.TOTL) match(countrycode) clear

* CORRECT: Use match separately on existing data
use mydata, clear
wbopendata, match(countrycode) full

See Issue #51 - fixed in v17.1.

Still Have Questions?

Last updated: February 2026 (v18.0.0)