How We Work
A consumer intelligence company
A peer-reviewed methodology that covers 100% of consumer spending.
Our core pillar
Making everyone count
We look at daily spending, adjusted for local prices and harmonized globally, to get a single source of truth for who spends what and how.
Consumer class = anyone spending $13+/day (2021 PPP). Middle class spans $13–130/day. Rich sits above $130/day. Everyone else is Vulnerable and Poor.
World population 2025
8.1B
Behaviour, not surveys
What consumers do, not what they say
We capture the people income might not see: children, retirees, high-savers, and the informal economy.
Consumer class · $13+/day
What consumers earn
$85T
Income · $28/day per consumer
What they do with it
$71T
Spend · $24/day per consumer
The remaining ~$14T is saved.
Scale, shape, diversify
One dataset, every angle
Globally consistent, refreshed four times a year, spanning 50 years: backcast 2000 through nowcast 2026 to forecast 2050.
190+
Countries
9,000+
Cities
200+
Spending categories
10+
Datasets
Segmented by
- 100+ spending groups
- 100+ income groups
- Gender
- Age (0–80+)
- 8 generations
- Household
- Cities / states / rural
- Nominal, PPP, local currencies
Specialized data
- Financial Inclusion & Behaviour
- Net Wealth & Assets
- Case-by-case affordability thresholds
- Case-by-case pricing analysis
- Retail Opportunity Locator
Across 50 years — globally consistent, refreshed 4× per year
Backcast
2000
Nowcast
2026
Forecast
2050
Sound and reliable methodology
How the model is built
01 · Sources
Public, licensed, proprietary
Public & open
- Household surveys
- National accounts
- Macro forecasts
- Population, geography, alternative data
Private & licensed
- Country surveys in detail
- Company data
02 · The model
Six steps, one pipeline
- 1
Harmonize
Reconcile hundreds of public and private sources into one coherent frame.
- 2
Distribute
Break totals into individuals across income, age, gender and geography.
- 3
Reweight
Correct for under- and over-reporting so every consumer counts.
- 4
Forecast
Project 50 years, from backcast 2000 through nowcast 2026 to 2050.
- 5
Disaggregate
Slice into 200+ categories, 100+ income groups and demographic cohorts.
- 6
Geolocate
Place every consumer, every dollar into 9,000+ cities and sub-regions.
03 · The core dataset
One cell = one person, category, city, year
Who
8.2B people
What
200+ categories
Where
190+ countries, 9,000+ cities
How much
$70.9T in 2026
Proprietary · peer-reviewed · patent-pending
190+
Countries
9,000+
Cities
200+
Categories
8.2B
Consumers tracked
Strategic results
Case examples across categories
A snapshot of the questions we've answered for global consumer brands.
Coffee
Store expansion & density
Identify the optimal number of locations, city by city, for global store expansion.
Luxury bags
Addressing Gen Z
Pinpoint the next key cities in China driving Gen Z female luxury growth over five years.
Communication
Pricing & affordability
How many people can afford a smartphone, by country — and when the tipping points hit.
Soft drinks
Scenario modelling
Consumer spend scenarios under shocks like a sugar tax or a recession, by country.
Real estate
City footprint
Based on consumers and category spend, are you present in the right cities?
How to access our data & services
Four ways to work with us
Pick the entry point that fits how your team makes decisions.
01 — The platform
World Data Intelligence
Self-serve, one login. Screen every market, size the opportunity and price to what each one can afford.
- Seats scoped to your markets
- Explore, Affordability, Data Catalog
- Re-run in full four times a year
- Free trial, then an annual license
02 — The feed
API & raw data
The same numbers, inside your own stack, for teams that would rather query than click.
- API endpoints, queried on demand
- Raw data drops for your warehouse
- Refreshed with every model run
- Docs, SDKs and support included
03 — Our analysts
Analyst partnership
Our team does the analysis with you, so the answer arrives as a decision rather than a table.
- Analyst hours included in the license
- Bespoke cuts and one-off deliveries
- Reports, decks and briefings
- A named contact for your category
04 — Pilots & bespoke
A build of your own
When the question is bigger than the product, we build the dataset or the platform for it.
- Three-month pilots on one decision
- Advisory retainers with your team
- Multi-year bespoke data projects
- Funded custom platforms
Credentials deck
Get the World Data Lab credentials deck
A concise overview of who we are, what we do, and how our data powers decisions for governments, foundations and Fortune 500 clients.
- Who we are and what we build
- The methodology and dataset in brief
- Selected client work across sectors
- Ways to engage - from platform to bespoke
Ready to plan with real consumer data?
Talk to our team about applying WDL intelligence to your next category, market or cohort question.