Terms of Use

Effective 2026-10-17. These terms govern the use of WorldRealDebt (worldrealdebt.com, the "site") and of the public API, embeddable widget and community features it provides. By using the site you agree to them. This document is a guide to use, not legal advice; the handling of personal data is covered separately by the privacy policy (/privacy/).

1. Nature of the service

The site is an information service that visualises and explains macroeconomic statistics published by official institutions. The live figures on screen are interpolated estimates that bridge official releases; they are not official statistics. The site is not a financial institution, gives no investment, lending, tax, accounting or legal advice, and recommends no financial product. Where an exact value is needed, consult the official source shown with each indicator.

2. Data disclaimer

Live estimates, comparisons and calculator results must not be relied upon for investment, lending, accounting or legal decisions. The operator accepts no responsibility for differences between estimates and final official figures, for revisions published by source institutions, or for discrepancies caused by exchange-rate movements. The base value, reference date and confidence label of every indicator are shown on its card and on the sources page, and users are taken to read the figures with those limits in mind.

3. Content licence

Unless otherwise stated, text, charts, explanations and glossary entries produced by the site are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY 4.0). You may copy, redistribute and adapt them, including commercially, provided you credit "WorldRealDebt" and link to the original page. The standard citation format is on the press page (/press/) and at the foot of each story. Data belonging to source institutions such as central banks, statistics offices and international organisations is not covered by CC BY 4.0 and remains subject to each institution's own terms.

4. Public API

The JSON API (for example /api/*/live.json and /api/*/snapshot.json) is free to use without authentication. Responses carry the base value, reference date, source and a citation string (citeAs) that must be passed on when the data is redistributed. Excessive calls, repeated requests that bypass caching and automation that threatens service stability are prohibited, and the operator may throttle or block callers without notice. The API is provided "as is" with no guarantee of availability or of a permanently fixed response format; format changes are announced first in the API documentation (/api-docs/).

5. Embeddable widget

Anyone may place the embeddable widget and script on their own web page. It is prohibited to remove or obscure the source attribution and WorldRealDebt link inside the widget, to present the widget's figures as if they were other data, or to place the widget alongside unlawful, hateful or fraudulent content. The operator may block the widget from displaying on domains that violate these terms. The widget records only the host page's domain and the date and collects no information about that page's visitors.

6. Community features and user content

The guestbook, polls, predictions and reactions can be used anonymously. By posting in the guestbook you grant the operator a non-exclusive right to display, store, summarise and translate the post on the site. The following are prohibited: other people's personal data; defamation, hate speech or threats; spam, advertising or malicious links; automated manipulation of polls or predictions; impersonation. The operator may hide or remove posts and restrict participation without prior notice under the community guidelines (/community/guidelines/). Deletion of your own posts can be requested through the procedure on the contact page. Community features use an anonymous identity cookie to count each participant once.

7. Prohibited conduct

It is prohibited to interfere with the normal operation of the service, to exploit security weaknesses or attempt to evade detection, to use the site's name, logo or design so as to pass oneself off as the operator or as an official institution, or to resell scraped content without attribution.

8. Trademarks and identifiers

The name "WorldRealDebt" and the logo identify the operator. CC BY 4.0 applies to content, not to trademark-style use of the name or logo. Use of the logo for attribution and press purposes is permitted under the conditions in the press guide.

9. External links and third-party services

The site links to external sites as official sources and references. The operator is not responsible for the content, accuracy or privacy practices of external sites. Advertising is provided by third parties through Google AdSense; responsibility for the content of an ad and for the advertiser's services lies with the advertiser. Advertising cookies are described in the privacy policy.

10. Disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability

Content and services are provided "as is" without express or implied warranty of accuracy, completeness, timeliness, fitness for a particular purpose or uninterrupted availability. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law the operator is not liable for direct, indirect or consequential loss arising from use of the site, inability to use it, or data errors. Rights that consumer-protection law does not allow to be excluded are not limited by this clause.

11. Changes to and suspension of the service

The operator may add, change or discontinue indicators, pages, the API, the widget and community features without notice. The current state of the data pipeline can be checked on the status page (/status/), and material changes are recorded in the API documentation and the public repository.

12. Changes to these terms

These terms may be updated. When they change, the effective date above is advanced and the before-and-after wording is kept in the public repository's change history. Continued use of the site after a change constitutes acceptance. Material changes are announced at the top of the site for a period of time.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms are accepted at [email protected] or through GitHub Issues (https://github.com/eightynine01/WorldRealDebt/issues). Guidance by topic is on the contact page (/contact/).