name: World Bank API Rate Limits
description: >-
  World Bank APIs do not publish explicit per-second or per-minute request rate
  limits. However, several technical constraints apply per request type and URL
  structure. The APIs are designed for development data access and not
  guaranteed for high-frequency production traffic. Developers are encouraged
  to cache results locally to reduce server load.
limits:
  - api: Indicators API
    type: URL Length
    constraint: Maximum 1,500 characters between slashes in URL path
    notes: Exceeding this limit will result in an error response
  - api: Indicators API
    type: URL Length
    constraint: Maximum 4,000 characters for entire URL
    notes: Keep query parameters and filters within this bound
  - api: Indicators API
    type: Indicators Per Request
    constraint: Maximum 60 indicators per request (semicolon-separated)
    notes: Split large indicator queries across multiple requests
  - api: Indicators API
    type: Pagination Default
    constraint: Default 50 records per page; configurable via per_page parameter
    notes: Use per_page and page parameters for bulk data retrieval
  - api: SDMX API
    type: Data Points Per Call
    constraint: Maximum 15,000 data points per call including null values
    notes: Requests exceeding this limit will fail; narrow date range or country scope
  - api: Finances API
    type: Records Per Request
    constraint: Maximum 1,000 records per request
    notes: Use pagination with skip parameter to retrieve full datasets
  - api: Data Catalog API
    type: Records Per Request
    constraint: Default maximum 100 records per request for DatasetList
    notes: Use $top and $skip OData parameters for pagination
  - api: All APIs
    type: Authentication
    constraint: No API key or token required
    notes: All endpoints are publicly accessible without credentials
  - api: All APIs
    type: Uptime
    constraint: No SLA guarantee - maximum uptime is a goal but not guaranteed
    notes: Implement local caching and defensive error handling in applications
best_practices:
  - Cache API responses locally to reduce repeated requests and handle outages
  - Use date filters and country filters to narrow query scope
  - Paginate large result sets using page and per_page parameters
  - For SDMX, restrict queries to specific countries and date ranges to stay within 15,000 data point limit
  - Handle HTTP 4xx and 5xx errors gracefully with retry logic
  - Consult the API Error Codes documentation for specific error handling
contact:
  - FN: World Bank Data Help Desk
    url: https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org
    email: data@worldbank.org
references:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/898581-api-basic-call-structures
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/902064-development-best-practices
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/898620-api-error-codes
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/1886701-sdmx-api-queries