fetch-chart-data
Once you have identified a chart url like https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/literate-and-illiterate-world-population, there are two key artifacts you can retrieve: the metadata json file, and the data csv file. The urls for both are $CHARTURL.metadata.json and $CHARTURL.csv respectively.
Always fetch the metadata first before fetching the data as it gives important context. Pay special attention to the descriptionKey field if it is given.
Query Parameters
Both endpoints support these query parameters to filter data and reduce response size:
| Parameter | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
useColumnShortNames |
Use short column names without spaces | true |
csvType |
Use filtered to respect country/time filters |
filtered |
country |
Filter to specific countries (ISO3 codes joined with ~) |
USA~GBR~CHN |
time |
Filter to time range | 2000..2020 or 2015 |
tab |
Chart visualization type | map, line, table |
Recommended base parameters: ?useColumnShortNames=true&csvType=filtered
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