WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO) API Reference

Overview

The WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO) OData API provides access to health statistics for 194 WHO member states. It covers over 2000 indicators including life expectancy, disease burden, mortality, immunization coverage, health workforce, air pollution, water/sanitation, and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) health indicators.

Base URL

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api

Authentication

No API key required. The API is fully open and free.

Rate Limits

• No formal rate limits documented.
• The API is served via Azure CDN and handles moderate loads well.
• Be respectful with automated requests; 1-2 per second recommended.

Key Endpoints

The API follows the OData v4 protocol. Standard OData query parameters work: $filter, $select, $orderby, $top, $skip, $count.

1. List All Indicators

GET /Indicator

Example:

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/Indicator

Response:

{
  "@odata.context": "...",
  "value": [
    {
      "IndicatorCode": "WHOSIS_000001",
      "IndicatorName": "Life expectancy at birth (years)",
      "Language": "EN"
    },
    {
      "IndicatorCode": "WHOSIS_000002",
      "IndicatorName": "Healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth (years)",
      "Language": "EN"
    },
    {
      "IndicatorCode": "WHS4_100",
      "IndicatorName": "Measles (MCV1) immunization coverage among 1-year-olds (%)",
      "Language": "EN"
    }
  ]
}

2. Get Data for a Specific Indicator

GET /{IndicatorCode}

Example (life expectancy at birth):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001

Response:

{
  "@odata.context": "...",
  "value": [
    {
      "Id": 12345,
      "IndicatorCode": "WHOSIS_000001",
      "SpatialDim": "USA",
      "SpatialDimType": "COUNTRY",
      "TimeDim": 2019,
      "TimeDimType": "YEAR",
      "Dim1": "SEX_BTSX",
      "Dim1Type": "SEX",
      "Dim2": null,
      "Dim2Type": null,
      "Dim3": null,
      "Dim3Type": null,
      "DataSourceDim": null,
      "Value": "78.5",
      "NumericValue": 78.5,
      "Low": 78.2,
      "High": 78.8,
      "Comments": "",
      "Date": "2024-01-15T00:00:00+00:00",
      "TimeDimensionValue": "2019",
      "TimeDimensionBegin": "2019-01-01T00:00:00+00:00",
      "TimeDimensionEnd": "2019-12-31T00:00:00+00:00"
    }
  ]
}

3. Filter by Country

Use OData $filter to restrict results by country (SpatialDim).

Example (life expectancy for USA only):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?$filter=SpatialDim eq 'USA'

Example (life expectancy for multiple countries):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?$filter=SpatialDim eq 'USA' or SpatialDim eq 'GBR' or SpatialDim eq 'JPN'

4. Filter by Year

Example (life expectancy in 2019):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?$filter=TimeDim eq 2019

Example (life expectancy for USA since 2015):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?$filter=SpatialDim eq 'USA' and TimeDim ge 2015

5. Filter by Sex/Dimension

Example (life expectancy, both sexes, USA, 2015+):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?$filter=SpatialDim eq 'USA' and TimeDim ge 2015 and Dim1 eq 'SEX_BTSX'

Dim1 sex values: SEX_BTSX (both sexes), SEX_MLE (male), SEX_FMLE (female).

6. Pagination and Limiting

Example (first 10 results):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?$top=10

Example (skip first 100, get next 50):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?$top=50&$skip=100

7. Select Specific Fields

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?$filter=SpatialDim eq 'USA'&$select=SpatialDim,TimeDim,NumericValue,Dim1

8. Order Results

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000001?$filter=SpatialDim eq 'USA'&$orderby=TimeDim desc

9. List Dimension Values

GET /DIMENSION/{DimensionType}/DimensionValues

Example (list all countries):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/DIMENSION/COUNTRY/DimensionValues

Example (list all regions):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/DIMENSION/REGION/DimensionValues

Example (list sex dimension values):

https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/DIMENSION/SEX/DimensionValues

Common Indicator Codes

Life Expectancy & Mortality

Communicable Diseases

Immunization

Non-Communicable Diseases & Risk Factors

Health Systems

Environmental Health

Country Codes (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3)

The GHO API uses ISO 3-letter codes for countries in the SpatialDim field.

USA (United States), GBR (United Kingdom), DEU (Germany), FRA (France), JPN (Japan), CHN (China), IND (India), BRA (Brazil), ZAF (South Africa), NGA (Nigeria), AUS (Australia), CAN (Canada), KOR (Republic of Korea), MEX (Mexico), RUS (Russian Federation)

WHO Regions: AFR (Africa), AMR (Americas), SEAR (South-East Asia), EUR (Europe), EMR (Eastern Mediterranean), WPR (Western Pacific), GLOBAL (Global)

Response Format

All responses are JSON following OData v4 conventions:

{
  "@odata.context": "https://ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/$metadata#...",
  "value": [
    { ... observation object ... },
    { ... observation object ... }
  ]
}

Key fields in each observation:

• SpatialDim: Country/region code (ISO alpha-3)
• TimeDim: Year (integer)
• NumericValue: The numeric data value (float or null)
• Value: String representation of the value
• Low / High: Confidence interval bounds (when available)
• Dim1: First additional dimension (often sex: SEX_BTSX, SEX_MLE, SEX_FMLE)
• Dim2, Dim3: Additional dimensions (age group, etc.)

Notes

• The API uses OData v4 syntax. Filter operators: eq, ne, gt, ge, lt, le, and, or, not. String values must be in single quotes.
• Not all indicators have data for all countries or years. Check data availability before building dependent workflows.
• NumericValue is preferred over Value for numeric analysis; Value is a string and may contain qualifiers.
• Many indicators are disaggregated by sex (Dim1) and/or age group (Dim2). Use the dimension values endpoint to discover valid codes.
• Data may have multi-year lag, especially for lower-income countries.
• The Low and High fields provide uncertainty intervals from WHO estimation processes (not all indicators have these).
• For bulk exploration, the GHO data portal at https://www.who.int/data/gho provides a browsable interface to find indicator codes.