The Global Macro Database (R Package)

Link to paper 📄

This repository complements paper, Müller, Xu, Lehbib, and Chen (2025), which introduces a panel dataset of 46 macroeconomic variables across 243 countries from historical records beginning in the year 1086 until 2024, including projections through the year 2030.

Features

• Unparalleled Coverage: Combines data from 32 contemporary sources (e.g., IMF, World Bank, OECD) with 78 historical datasets.
• Extensive Variables: GDP, inflation, government finance, trade, employment, interest rates, and more.
• Harmonized Data: Resolves inconsistencies and splices all available data together.
• Scheduled Updates: Regular releases ensure data reliability.
• Full Transparency: All code is open source and available in this repository.
• Accessible Formats: Provided in .dta, .csv and as Stata /Python/R package.

Data access

Download via website

R package:

# Install from GitHub
devtools::install_github("KMueller-Lab/Global-Macro-Database-R")

How to use (examples)

library(globalmacrodata)

# Get data from latest available version
df <- gmd()

# Get data from a specific version
df <- gmd(version = "2025_01")

# Get data for a specific country
df <- gmd(country = "USA")

# Get data for multiple countries
df <- gmd(country = c("USA", "CHN", "DEU"))

# Get specific variables
df <- gmd(variables = c("rGDP", "infl", "unemp"))

# Get raw data for a single variable
df <- gmd(variables = "rGDP", raw = TRUE)

# List available variables and their descriptions
gmd(vars = TRUE)

# List available countries and their ISO codes
gmd(iso = TRUE)

# Combine parameters
df <- gmd(
  version = "2025_01",
  country = c("USA", "CHN"),
  variables = c("rGDP", "unemp", "CPI")
)

Parameters

• variables (character or vector): Variable code(s) to include (e.g., "rGDP" or c("rGDP", "unemp"))
• country (character or vector): ISO3 country code(s) (e.g., "SGP" or c("MRT", "SGP"))
• version (character): Dataset version in format 'YYYY_MM' (e.g., '2025_01'). If NULL or "current", uses the latest version
• raw (logical): If TRUE, download raw data for a single variable
• iso (logical): If TRUE, display list of available countries
• vars (logical): If TRUE, display list of available variables

Release schedule

Release Date	Details
2025-01-30	Initial release: 2025_01
2025-04-01	2025_03
2025-07-01	2025_06
2025-10-01	2025_09
2026-01-01	2025_12

Citation

To cite this dataset, please use the following reference:

@techreport{mueller2025global, 
    title = {The Global Macro Database: A New International Macroeconomic Dataset}, 
    author = {Müller, Karsten and Xu, Chenzi and Lehbib, Mohamed and Chen, Ziliang}, 
    year = {2025}, 
    type = {Working Paper}
}

Acknowledgments

The development of the Global Macro Database would not have been possible without the generous funding provided by the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) through the PYP grants (WBS A-0003319-01-00 and A-0003319-02-00), a Tier 1 grant (A-8001749- 00-00), and the NUS Risk Management Institute (A-8002360-00-00). This financial support laid the foundation for the successful completion of this extensive project.