Sources & Methodology

Four rules the site is built around

1. Nothing is invented. No statistic, source, citation, quotation, interview or finding on this site is fabricated, estimated to fill a gap, or written as an illustrative example. Where something does not exist yet, the space says so.
2. Every number carries its origin. Charts display their source, the organisation that actually collected the data, the units, the definition, the date the source was last updated and the date it was retrieved — visibly, next to the chart, not in a footnote.
3. Every number carries its limits. Each indicator is published with a written caveat explaining what it does not measure. That caveat is often more important than the value.
4. Gaps are shown as gaps. Missing values are never interpolated, smoothed or carried forward. A break in a line is information.

How data is collected

All quantitative series currently published on this site were retrieved from the World Bank World Development Indicators API on 2 August 2026. The WDI release used was last updated by the World Bank on 13 July 2026. Both dates appear on every chart, because a figure without a vintage cannot be reconciled with anyone else's copy of the same figure.

The World Bank is a redistributor, not the collector, for most of these series. Unemployment and labour-force figures originate with the International Labour Organization; education spending with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics; freshwater resources with FAO AQUASTAT; parliamentary representation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Each chart names the collecting organisation separately from the redistributor.

Data is reproduced under the World Bank's CC BY 4.0 licence, and every CSV exported from this site carries the licence, the source URL, both dates and the note that empty cells mean no published value.

How it is verified

Before a series is published it is checked against four questions: does the indicator measure what the section claims it measures; does its coverage actually extend to the years being shown; do the gaps in it correspond to known reporting failures rather than transcription errors; and does its definition contradict the point it is being used to make?

That last check is not hypothetical. Lebanon's access-to-electricity figure sits at essentially 100% throughout a period when state supply fell to a few hours a day. The indicator is correct; it measures connection, not supply. Publishing it without that caveat would have been accurate and misleading at the same time, which is the failure mode this process exists to catch.

How it is cited

Every statistic, quotation and factual claim carries a citation with a direct link to its original source. Sources are registered once, below, and referenced by identifier from country pages and indicators, so that the same source is described the same way everywhere and can be listed by country or by topic.

Sources are marked either in use — data from them is published here now — or under assessment, meaning they are named in a methodology or a gap note as something the project intends to use but has not adopted. Naming a source is not the same as having used it, and the distinction is made visible rather than left ambiguous.

How it is updated

Indicator series are refreshed when the World Bank publishes a new WDI release, and the retrieval date on every chart changes with it. Country sections state their status. Where a correction is needed, it is made in the open: the change is described rather than silently overwritten.

Corrections and challenges

If a figure here is wrong, or a caveat is missing, or a source has been characterised unfairly, that should be reported and it will be fixed and recorded. Contact details are on the About page. Correcting an error costs the project far less than leaving one in place.

Independence

MENA Insight is independent. It is not owned, sponsored, funded, endorsed or reviewed by any government, political party, employer or non-governmental organisation. The founder previously conducted regional research during an internship with the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND); that experience informed the idea for this platform, and nothing more. ANND has no involvement in, control over, or responsibility for anything published here, and no ANND material is reproduced.

Source registry

Every source referenced anywhere on this site, with what it is used for and whether it is in use or under assessment.

Sources by country

Sources and data by topic

What is not yet known

These are the gaps that most affect the questions this platform is trying to answer. They are listed here, rather than left implicit, because a reader deserves to know the shape of the missing evidence as well as the shape of the available evidence.