The World Development Indicators 1997 CD-Rom is the new Windows-based CD-ROM product from World Bank that contains information on 223 countries with time-series data (mostly 1970-1995) for nearly 500 of the indicators, with definitions, source information, and all the text from the book (WDI print edition).

The series cover six broad areas:

Overview

People - Population, Labour, Education, Health

Environment - Land, Energy, Urbanization, Emissions

Economy - SNA (Local, US$, derived), Production, Trade, GFS, Money, BoP, Debt

States and markets - Private Sector, SOEs, Prices, Policies, Finance, Infrastructure

Global links - Aid

The CD-ROM has many new capabilities, including the ability to map and graph data sets. Information may be easily downloaded into other software programs (spreadsheet, text, SAS, etc.)

Part 1 - Getting Started

World Development Indicators CD-Rom can either be accessed from from government documents or from McGill Libraries Database (as networked CD).

Starting up WDI may take 3-5 minutes. Once the CD-Rom has been loaded the following screen would appear.

Figure 1

• The screen has four tabs Query, Result, Map and Tables, which could be accessed by clicking mouse. Each of these tabs are explained in detail below.
• If you need to access build in tables then click on Tables to directly go to tables screen and choose the one appropriate.

The Query window lets you retrieve time series data from the database. Choose your countries, series (indicators), and years using standard Windows controls in each selection screen to highlight the items you want. Click on Select to drop them into your selection "basket," and OK to return to the main Query window. Click on the Show data button to view the data in the Result window.

To create a query:

• Click on the Query button then the Countries, Series, and Years buttons in turn.
• Countries can be selected in four ways: From the alphabetical list, By classification, By criteria and As part of a group.

• Type in the country name and press Enter.
• Or, move down the country scroll box and double-click on the country you want, or highlight a range of countries and click on Select.
• Or, type in the country code(s) (separated by a space) and press Enter.
• To select all the countries listed, click on Select All.

Figure 2

Selected countries will be displayed in the Selected Countries/Groups window.

To remove a country, double-click on it in the Selected Countries/Groups window, or, highlight it and click on (delete highlighted countries icon). To remove all selections, click on (clear selected countries icon).

• Click on the desired classification (choose as many as you like).
• The selections are OR within a classification and AND across classifications. For instance, if you select Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia from the Geographic regions window, and low income from the Income groups window, the countries from both regions that are low-income will remain in the list.
• Countries matching the classification will appear in the Matching Countries window. Double-click on the country you want to place it in the Selected Countries/Groups window.
• Or, highlight a range of countries and click on Select.
• Or, click on Select All to select all the countries listed in the Matching Countries window.

Figure 3

• To restore the full country list to the Matching Countries window, click on Reset.
• Selected countries will be displayed in the Selected Countries/Groups window.
• To remove a country, double-click on it in the Selected Countries/Groups window, or, highlight it and click on (delete highlighted countries icon). To remove all selections, click on (clear selected countries icon).

Clicking on the Series button on query screen (Figure 2) will bring to the following screen (Figure 4)

Series (indicators) can be selected in two ways: From an alphabetical series list or by category.

Figure 4

To choose a series from the alphabetical list:

• Scroll through the series (indicator) list and double-click on the series you want. The series are displayed in ascending order by default. You can change the order to descending or topical.
• Or, click on the Type a series box on the upper left of the screen and type in the first part of the series name you want. As you type, the list will jump to the letters you are typing. The first matching series will appear in the Available Series window. Double-click on the series you want to place it in the Selected window.
• Or, click on Find, type in any string from the name you want and click on OK. A list of series matching your string within any part of the name will appear.
• To restore the full list of indicators, click on Show All.
• Or, click on Select All to select all series.
• The selected series will appear in the Selected Series window.
• To remove a series, double-click on it in the Selected Series window, or, highlight it and click on (delete highlighted series icon).
• To remove all selections, click on (clear selected series icon).

• Series (indicators) can be selected by clicking on the following buttons: Overview, People, Environment, Economy, States & Markets, Global Links, All Series.
• Click on the category you want. The selected category will turn red and its subcategories (where applicable) will be displayed below it. Note that as you change categories the subcategory buttons will change. To view all the series, click on All Series.
• Click on the subcategory you want. Only the series for the selected subcategory will be displayed in the Matching Series window. Note: if you select additional categories without unselecting the others, the new series will be added to the other selected subcategory.
• Double-click on the series you want from the Matching Series window. They will then be displayed in the Selected Series window.
• Or, click on Select All to select all series.
• To remove a series, double-click on it in the Selected Series window, or, highlight it and click on (delete highlighted series icon).
• To remove all selections, click on (clear selected series icon).

Click on the year button on query screen (figure 1) to get to the following screen (figure 5)

Figure 5

• All available years will appear in the Years window. Double-click on the years you want. The years will appear in descending order by default. Click on Ascending to switch the order.
• Or, click on Select All to select all years.
• Click on OK when done.
• The selected years will appear in the Selected Years window.
• To remove a year, double-click on it in the Selected Years window, or, highlight it and click on (delete highlighted years icon).
• To remove all selections, click on (clear selected years icon).

• You can save any or all parts of the query for future use or load a query that you have previously saved. For example, if you save a query from the Series Selection screen, it will save only the series you have selected and nothing from the Countries or Years Selection windows. You can then load the series query only from the Series Selection window. If you save your query from the main Query window, it will save your selections for all parts of the query.
• Once you have created or loaded your query, you can click on the Availability button to check data availability.
• Click on Show data to view the results of your query.

Firgure 6

• Now, click on "Show Data" button to view the data in the Result window (Figure 7).

Figure 7

• A three dimensional spreadsheet will be displayed. You can change the orientation of the display be clicking on scroll list on the lower left corner (Figure 7).

Figure 7

• In the Resut window the data is initially presented in sceintific notation. To change the scale click on the pull-down list (Scientific). You may also chnge the number of decimal places using the next pull-down menu.
• If the column is too narrow, the series would look like ###########. Increase the column width to using "Format" menu.

On the Results screen

• highlight the set of cells and click on  chart button to view reslts in form of a bar chart.
• Or, select one cell and click on  Map button to view the result of a series for a particular year on the world map.

In the Map screen, you can point and select a country and then view tables and information about that country.

• To select a country move mouse pointer on the country (country name appears on the bottom left hand corner) you want and click left mouse button. You may also select a country using small scroll menu on lower left hand corner.

• A message box will appear with a list of the tables available for the country.
• Select the table then double click or click on view button to view the table.

In order to view comparison between the countries, or map one series click on globe icon.

• A list of avaible series would be dsiplayed.
• Select the required series and click on Paint Map button.
• 
• The map would be coloured according to the default setting and as you will move your mouse pointer the series value for the country would be displayed.
• To see a larger scale map click on zoom icon  and select the region you want.
• To get back to world map click on zoom icon again.

Part 4 - Tables

The Tables screen offes a set of ready-made tables.

To display the groups of tables

• Click on the button for the information set that you want. A brief description will appear in the left hand window, and a list of the contents--tables and/or text--in the right.
• Double-click on the item you want from the Contents window. If this is a table, a spreadsheet will appear.
• Or, highlight the item you want and click on (view highlighted table icon).

 
 

[Table of Contents]

While you are on the Results screen (figure 7), you can save data out in a variety of formats.

To save either click on file menu and go down to save as or click on disk icon. The following screen appears.

Data can be saved in Excel, ASCII, SAS, MS Access, Dbase or Text format. Click on the appropriate icon and fill in the options and click on OK.

©  EDRS - McGill University