These indicators could not be downloaded

[clemdmcl]

Hi Vincent,

I saw a similar issue has been open on Git before, however I couldn't find the solution to my problem, as I think it is slightly different: in my case I could download most of the indicators I wanted, except for these ones specifically. The common issue with the previous post is that it worked also fine yesterday I could retrieve all indicators.

I also tried to run the code you posted on this post, but I get a similar error where only one of the 3 series could not be downloaded... (These indicators could not be downloaded: DT.DOD.DECT.EX.ZS)

Do you know what the issue might be?

country <- c("AU", "AT", "BE")
indicator <- c("FR.INR.RINR",
"FR.INR.DPST",
"FR.INR.LNDP",
"FR.INR.RISK",
"FR.INR.LEND",
"FM.AST.NFRG.CN",
"NY.GNS.ICTR.ZS",
"NY.ADJ.NNAT.GN.ZS",
"NY.ADJ.NNAT.CD",
"SP.DYN.LE00.IN",
"SP.POP.1564.TO.ZS",
"SP.POP.65UP.TO",
"SP.POP.DPND.OL",
"SP.POP.DPND",
"FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG",
"NY.GEN.SVNG.GD.ZS",
"NY.GEN.NDOM.GD.ZS",
"NY.GDP.MKTP.KN.87",
"BN.CUR.GDPM.ZS",
"BN.CAB.XOKA.GDP.ZS",
"6.0.GDP_growth")

wi_data <- WDI(
country = country,
indicator = indicator,
start = 1960,
end = 2020,
extra = FALSE,
cache = NULL,
latest = NULL,
language = "en"
)

Many thanks for your help!

[vincentarelbundock]

Hi @clemdmcl , thanks for raising this issue.

If you were previously able to extract information using the exact same version of the WDI package, then it means that the problem is either related to the World Bank servers or to your internet connection.

I will update the package to make the error message more informative. When I run your command using the development version of WDI from Github, this warning is raised. I hope you find it more useful even if it doesn't fully solve your problem:

Warning message:
In WDI(country = country, indicator = indicator, start = 1960, end = 2020, :
The following indicators could not be downloaded: NY.GEN.SVNG.GD.ZS, NY.GEN.NDOM.GD.ZS, NY.GDP.MKTP.KN.87, BN.CUR.GDPM.ZS, BN.CAB.XOKA.GDP.ZS, 6.0.GDP_growth.

Please make sure that you are running the latest version of the WDI package, and that the arguments you are using in the WDI() function are valid.

Sometimes, downloads will suddenly stop working, even if nothing has changed in the R code of the WDI package. ("The same WDI package version worked yesterday!") In those cases, the problem is almost certainly related to the World Bank servers or to your internet connection.

You can check if the World Bank web API is currently serving the indicator(s) of interest by typing a URL of this form in your web browser:

https://api.worldbank.org/v2/en/country/all/indicator/NY.GEN.SVNG.GD.ZS?format=json&date=1960:2020&per_page=32500&page=1

[clemdmcl]

Hi @vincentarelbundock,

Many thanks for your quick answer. I tried again running the command today (with two different internet connections), thinking the problem might have been solved, unfortunately with no success.

Only GB.TAX.TOTL.GDP.ZS. could not be downloaded this time instead of the 6.0.GDP_growth last time.

Anyway thanks for your help!
Clémence

[vincentarelbundock]

Thanks for the follow-up @clemdmcl .

Since, again, nothing has changed in WDI, this (almost certainly) confirms that the problem is on the World Bank server side. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do.

I will leave this issue open in case anyone stumbles upon the discussion.

Good luck!