About this API
The WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO) is the World Health Organization's official, open API for health statistics. It exposes thousands of indicators — from life expectancy and mortality, through the incidence of communicable and non-communicable diseases, to immunization, risk factors and access to care — broken down by country, WHO region, year and demographic dimensions (sex, age groups). The API follows the OData standard (v4): the indicator list comes from /api/Indicator, dimension code lists (e.g. countries) from /api/DIMENSION/COUNTRY/DimensionValues, and the indicator data itself from /api/{indicator_code}, filtered with the $filter, $select and $top parameters. Responses are JSON (XML is also available). Coverage spans almost every country in the world, which makes GHO one of the best public sources of comparable, cross-country health data.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an API key?
No. The GHO OData API is public and free — no registration, no key.
What data does this API return?
Values of WHO health indicators — mortality, disease incidence, immunization, risk factors, access to care — broken down by country, region, year and demographic group. Indicator and dimension code lists (e.g. the country list) are available too. JSON format, XML optional.
Can this API be called directly from a browser?
No. The endpoint returns no CORS headers, so a browser will block a cross-origin call from front-end code — it has to be made server-side. That is why there is no live "Try it" button here.
Who runs this API?
The World Health Organization (WHO). Documentation: who.int/data/gho/info/gho-odata-api.