Governments Are Going Open: Why CSV Is Still the Language of Public Data

For decades, CSV has quietly powered data transparency worldwide. When governments first began publishing open datasets — from city budgets to healthcare statistics — they needed a format anyone could open, edit, and analyze. CSV became that format.

Even now, despite new technologies like APIs and JSON feeds, CSV remains the standard for open data portals across the globe. The reason is simple: accessibility. You don’t need expensive software or developer skills — a spreadsheet app or text editor will do.

Many national and local governments maintain CSV-based data catalogs. For instance, data.gov in the U.S. and data.gov.uk in the U.K. both rely heavily on CSV exports. It allows journalists, researchers, and citizens to download and process data easily, driving transparency and civic innovation.

Still, challenges persist — inconsistent delimiters, encoding issues, and missing headers can make datasets hard to merge or interpret. However, the simplicity of CSV outweighs its flaws. It’s a universal data format that continues to make open data truly open.

At CSV Loader, we see CSV not just as a file type, but as a bridge between institutions and people.