Our World in Data
Country statistics, historical data and numeric time series
Research and data on global challenges and long-term trends.
Your information
Last year to include. Example: 2020. Defaults to the latest available year.
Country names separated by commas. Example: France, Germany. Defaults to World.
First year to include. Example: 2000. Defaults to the earliest available year.
The statistic to measure, in plain words. Example: life expectancy.
Example results
- Unit
- tonnes
- Source
- Global Carbon Budget (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
- Chart Link
- ourworldindata.org
- Definition
- Annual total emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂), excluding land-use change, measured in tonnes.
- Chart Title
- Annual CO₂ emissions
- Values
Values Year Value Country 20204,689,954,000United States20215,020,111,000United States20225,055,403,000United States202035,158,230,000World202136,866,863,000World202237,527,773,000World
About Our World in Data
Our World in Data (OWID) returns numeric country-by-year values from the best-matching chart for a named statistic.
Get statistic returns chart details, definitions, sources, units, and values; provide a statistic and optionally countries and years.
Built by Fous from ourworldindata.org and checked automatically; it last passed a check on Sep 29, 2026. Fous is not affiliated with Our World in Data.
Actions
Get statistic
1 credit per runGet a country-by-year statistic from the best-matching Our World in Data chart. Returns the selected chart, its definition and source, and numeric values. Only charts with downloadable numeric time-series data are supported.
What you provide
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
To Yearto_year | Number | Optional | Last year to include. Example: 2020. Defaults to the latest available year.Example: 2022 |
Countriescountries | Text | Optional | Country names separated by commas. Example: France, Germany. Defaults to World.Example: World, United States |
From Yearfrom_year | Number | Optional | First year to include. Example: 2000. Defaults to the earliest available year.Example: 2020 |
Statisticstatistic | Text | Required | The statistic to measure, in plain words. Example: life expectancy.Example: CO2 emissions |
What you get
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Unitunit | Text | Measurement unit.Example: Tonnes |
Sourcesource | Text | Original data source citation.Example: Global Carbon Budget (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data |
Valuesvalues | List | Numeric observations sorted by country and then year. |
Yearvalues[].year | Number | Example: 2020 |
Valuevalues[].value | Number | Example: 4689954000 |
Countryvalues[].country | Text | Example: United States |
Chart Linkchart_link | Text | Link to the selected chart.Example: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country |
Definitiondefinition | Text | What the statistic measures.Example: Annual total emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂), excluding land-use change… |
Chart Titlechart_title | Text | Title of the chart used.Example: Annual CO₂ emissions |
Example result
For To Year: 2022, Countries: World, United States, From Year: 2020, Statistic: CO2 emissions
{
"unit": "tonnes",
"source": "Global Carbon Budget (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data",
"values": [
{
"year": 2020,
"value": 4689954000,
"country": "United States"
},
{
"year": 2021,
"value": 5020111000,
"country": "United States"
},
{
"year": 2022,
"value": 5055403000,
"country": "United States"
}
],
"chart_link": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country",
"definition": "Annual total emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂), excluding land-use change, measured in tonnes.",
"chart_title": "Annual CO₂ emissions"
}For developers
Run this workflow from your own code. In Studio, turn on Developer mode and create an API key.
# First set your key: export FOUS_API_KEY='YOUR_FOUS_API_KEY'
: "${FOUS_API_KEY:?Set FOUS_API_KEY before running this example}"
curl 'https://api.fous.com/v1/query' \
--fail-with-body --silent --show-error --max-time 120 \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
"api": "@our-world-in-data",
"visibility": "public",
"operation": "get_statistic",
"version": 1,
"input": {
"to_year": 2022,
"countries": "World, United States",
"from_year": 2020,
"statistic": "CO2 emissions"
},
"response": {
"format": "json"
}
}'What you can do with it
- Compare a statistic across countries and years
- Track changes in a statistic over time
- Find the source and definition for a statistic
- Build country-level reports from historical values
Questions
Is Fous affiliated with Our World in Data?
No. Fous is not affiliated with Our World in Data. This workflow reads the public ourworldindata.org website and returns its data.
How much does it cost?
Each run costs 1 credit. With pay-as-you-go, a credit costs 1¢; monthly plans cost less per credit.
Do I need a Our World in Data account?
No. You only need a Fous account.
How current is the data?
Fous gets the data from ourworldindata.org when you run it; repeating the same request within a day may return the saved result. Fous checks this workflow automatically; it last passed a check on Sep 29, 2026.
What was life expectancy in France in 2020?
Use Get statistic with life expectancy, France, and 2020 as the first and last years.
How did a statistic change over time?
Use Get statistic with the statistic and the desired first and last years.
Which source and definition support a statistic?
Get statistic returns the selected chart’s source and definition.