Our World in Data

Base URL

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher

Endpoints 7

• GET/{grafiek}.csvThe figures behind a chart: Entity, Code (ISO3 or OWID_…), Year, and a column per series. The chart name is in the URL on the site.
• GET/{grafiek}.metadata.jsonPer column unit, timespan, lastUpdated, nextUpdate, explanation (descriptionKey, descriptionProcessing), citation and a link to the full metadata.
• GET/{grafiek}.zipCSV, metadata and a readme in one ZIP (CO₂ per capita, NL only: 7.6 kB).
• GET/{grafiek}.config.jsonThe chart settings: title, default country selection, map, dimensions (which indicator ids).
• GEThttps://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/{id}.metadata.jsonFull metadata of one indicator: origins (producer, licence, link), nonRedistributable, updatePeriodDays, processingLevel.
• GEThttps://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/{id}.data.jsonAll values of one indicator as three lists: values, years, entities (entity ids, not ISO codes). CO₂ per capita: 26,509 values, 580 kB.
• GEThttps://ourworldindata.org/sitemap.xmlAll chart addresses (/grapher/…); OWID has no public list API for charts.

Filtering tested

No query language: pick the chart in the path, countries with country (~ between) and years with time (.. for a range).

Parameters 6

Columns in the CSV (useColumnShortNames=true) and fields in metadata.json 8

Limits and pitfalls

• No key, no documented request limit. Responses come via Cloudflare (cached). csvType=full is 800 kB for CO₂ per capita (26,509 rows); filter instead. tested
• Old chart names redirect (301) to a multi-dimensional chart and then lose the country filter: share-electricity-renewables.csv?country=~NLD returned all countries after the redirect. Catch redirects (curl without -L, fetch with redirect: 'manual') and use the new name with its dimensions. tested
• An unknown country code gives no error, just a header row, which then lacks the Code column. An unknown chart: 404 with {"status":404,"error":"Not found"}. tested
• The CSV's Last-Modified header is the generation time, not freshness. Use lastUpdated and nextUpdate from the metadata (CO₂ per capita: 2025-11-13, next 2026-11-13). tested
• Check nonRedistributable and origins[].license in the full metadata before republishing third-party figures. For CO₂ per capita: false, Global Carbon Project CC BY 4.0. tested
• For charts that open as a map, country=~NLD only works with &tab=chart added. experience
• robots.txt of ourworldindata.org allows everything; api.ourworldindata.org has no robots.txt (404). tested

Try it HTTP 200 · 536 ms · 16 Oct

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-per-capita.csv?v=1&csvType=filtered&useColumnShortNames=true&country=NLD~DEU~BEL~OWID_WRL&time=2020..2024

entity,code,year,emissions_total_per_capita
Belgium,BEL,2020,7.9076037
Belgium,BEL,2021,8.204076
Belgium,BEL,2022,7.6375527
Belgium,BEL,2023,7.2316356
Belgium,BEL,2024,7.2798314
Germany,DEU,2020,7.738692
Germany,DEU,2021,8.100614
Germany,DEU,2022,7.942359
Germany,DEU,2023,7.022808
Germany,DEU,2024,6.7688236
Netherlands,NLD,2020,7.7664127
Netherlands,NLD,2021,7.889522
Netherlands,NLD,2022,7.1213217
Netherlands,NLD,2023,6.4676642
Netherlands,NLD,2024,6.29691
World,OWID_WRL,2020,4.4577436
World,OWID_WRL,2021,4.634748
World,OWID_WRL,2022,4.6784525
World,OWID_WRL,2023,4.707772
World,OWID_WRL,2024,4.729075

Shortened response, saved at harvest time. Click the URL for the real, current response.