World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator metadata for Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL), sourceOrganization and sourceNote fields
Source ID
SRC-260
Citation
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator metadata for Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL), sourceOrganization and sourceNote fields
URL or path
https://api.worldbank.org/v2/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?format=json; held at research/SRC-260_worldbank_SP.POP.TOTL_indicator_metadata.json
Type
Official statistical series metadata
Hierarchy tier
2
Accessed
2026-08-18
Snapshot
Retrieved 18 August 2026, HTTP 200, saved as JSON. Not committed
Claims
POP-001; CH1 population denominator
Status
READ
Version history
The register keeps changing after the book is fixed in print. Each entry below was added to this row in the order shown.
RETRIEVED TO SETTLE MIN-440, WHICH ASKED WHETHER WORLD POPULATION PROSPECTS IS 'THE FILE BEHIND' THE WORLD BANK SERIES OR WHETHER THE BANK IS A SEPARATE COMPILER. THE BANK ANSWERS IT. sourceOrganization, verbatim and in the order the field gives them: 'World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), uri: https://population.un.org/wpp/, publisher: UN Population Division; Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices, National Statistical Offices (NSOs); Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, Eurostat (ESTAT); Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Statistics Division'. sourceNote, verbatim: 'Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.' TWO THINGS FOLLOW. FIRST, WPP IS NAMED FIRST AMONG THE SOURCES OF THIS INDICATOR BY THE PUBLISHER OF THE INDICATOR. SECOND, THE SERIES IS MIDYEAR BY ITS OWN STATEMENT, and WPP's midyear value for the Syrian Arab Republic, 1 July 2025, is 25,620,427 at SRC-256, which is this series' 2025 value at SRC-056 TO THE UNIT. THE SCOPE OF WHAT THIS ESTABLISHES, STATED EXACTLY, BECAUSE THE FAILURE THIS PROJECT KEEPS MAKING IS THE STEP PAST THE EVIDENCE: the metadata lists four source organisations for the indicator across all countries and does not state which supplied the Syrian value. It establishes that the Bank names WPP first, that the series is midyear, and that the two numbers match exactly. It does not establish that the Bank performs no adjustment for any country, and no sentence may say so. WHAT PROSE MAY SAY: that the dashboard and the Bank's series are accounts of the same file, and that their agreement is not two independent measurements agreeing. WHAT PROSE MAY NOT SAY: that the World Bank series IS World Population Prospects, or that the Bank is not a compiler.