World Development Indicators Analysis (2022)

Introduction

The data for this analysis comes from the World Development Indicators database (The World Bank 2022).

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import pandas as pd

wdi = pd.read_csv('wdi.csv')

wdi.head()

#| label: setup
#| include: false

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns

sns.set_style("whitegrid")

Life Expectancy analysis:

life_exp_series = wdi['life_expectancy']
print("Life Expectancy (Years):")
print(f"- Mean: {life_exp_series.mean():.2f}")
print(f"- Median: {life_exp_series.median():.2f}")
print(f"- Standard Deviation: {life_exp_series.std():.2f}")

Life Expectancy (Years):
- Mean: 72.42
- Median: 73.51
- Standard Deviation: 7.71

Figure 1: Distribution of Life Expectancy in 2022.

From the summary statistics in Table 1, we see that the mean life expectancy of the countries is 72.42, the median is 73.51, and the standard deviation is 7.71. In Figure 1, we see a longer and thiner tail of life expectancies on the lower end, and a shorter and thicker tail of life expectancies on the high end. In developmental economics, the Preston Curve tells us that life expectancy does not have a linear relationship to GDP per capita (Preston 1975).

Inflation analysis:

inf_rate_series = wdi['inflation_rate']
print("Inflation Rate (Annual %):")
print(f"- Mean: {inf_rate_series.mean():.2f}")
print(f"- Median: {inf_rate_series.median():.2f}")
print(f"- Standard Deviation: {inf_rate_series.std():.2f}")

Inflation Rate (Annual %):
- Mean: 12.49
- Median: 7.97
- Standard Deviation: 19.68

Figure 2: A swarm plot of 2022 inflation rates, showing the precise location of each country.

From the summary statistics in Table 1, we see that the mean inflation rate is 12.49 percent, the median is 7.97 percent, and the standard deviation is 19.68 percent. In Figure 2, we see a vaguely normal distribution. Most of the data points are clustered between 0 and 20 percent annual inflation, with a few outliers on the right tail. Economists have found that outlier inflation has adverse economic effects (Barro 1996).

GDP Per Capita analysis:

gdp_series = wdi['gdp_per_capita']
print("GDP Per Capita (USD):")
print(f"- Mean: ${gdp_series.mean():,.2f}")
print(f"- Median: ${gdp_series.median():,.2f}")
print(f"- Standard Deviation: ${gdp_series.std():,.2f}")

GDP Per Capita (USD):
- Mean: $20,345.71
- Median: $7,587.59
- Standard Deviation: $31,308.94

Figure 3: Distribution of GDP Per Capita in 2022.

From the summary statistics in Table 1, we see that the mean GDP per capita of the countries is $20,345.71, the median is $7,587.59, and standard deviation is $31,308.94. In Figure 3, we observe that the GDP per capita of the countries in the data set follow a power law distributions. Most of the countries are clustered in the low GDP per capita buckets, a small number a clustered in middle GDP per capita buckets, and there are a tiny number of outliers with very high GDP per capita.

Table 1: Summary Statistics for Key Indicators (2022).

|                    |   GDP per Capita ($) |   Life Expectancy (Years) |   Inflation Rate (%) |
|:-------------------|---------------------:|--------------------------:|---------------------:|
| Mean               |            20,345.71 |                     72.42 |                12.49 |
| Median             |             7,587.59 |                     73.51 |                 7.97 |
| Standard Deviation |            31,308.94 |                      7.71 |                19.68 |

References

Barro, Robert J. 1996. “Inflation and Economic Growth.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review 78 (3): 153–69. https://doi.org/10.20955/r.78.153-69.

Preston, Samuel H. 1975. “The Changing Relation Between Mortality and Level of Economic Development.” Population Studies 29 (2): 231–48.

The World Bank. 2022. “World Development Indicators.” The World Bank Group. https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators.