Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	VANGUARD WORLD FUND
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Oct. 10, 2017
Retail | Vanguard Global Wellesley Income Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	Fund Summary
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The Fund seeks to provide long-term growth of income and a high and sustainable level of current income, along with moderate long-term capital appreciation.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold Investor Shares or Admiral Shares of the Fund.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	Shareholder Fees (Fees paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	Annual Fund Operating Expenses (Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense examples, reduce the Fund’s performance. The Fund has no operating history and therefore has no portfolio turnover information.
Other Expenses, New Fund, Based on Estimates [Text]	rr_OtherExpensesNewFundBasedOnEstimates	The expense information shown in the table reflects estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	Examples
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	The following examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s Investor Shares or Admiral Shares with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. They illustrate the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund’s shares. These examples assume that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund invests approximately 60% to 70% of its assets in U.S. and foreign investment-grade fixed income securities that the advisor believes will generate a moderate level of current income, including corporate, government, and government agency bonds, as well as mortgage-backed securities. The Fund may also invest in local currency bonds. The remaining 30% to 40% of Fund assets are invested in equity securities of mid- and large-size U.S. and foreign companies that have a history of above-average dividends or expectations of increasing dividends.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Principal Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the U.S. and foreign stock and bond markets, any of which could cause an investor to lose money. However, because fixed income securities such as bonds usually are less volatile than stocks and because the Fund invests more than half of its assets in fixed income securities, the Fund’s overall level of risk should be low to moderate. With approximately 60% to 70% of its assets allocated to U.S. and foreign bonds, the Fund is proportionately subject to the following bond risks: • Interest rate risk, which is the chance that bond prices will decline because of rising interest rates; • Income risk, which is the chance that the Fund’s income will decline because of falling interest rates; • Credit risk, which is the chance that a bond issuer will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline; • Liquidity risk, which is the chance that the Fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price; • Call risk, which is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem) securities with higher coupon rates or interest rates before their maturity dates. The Fund would then lose any price appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income. Such redemptions and subsequent reinvestments would also increase the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate. For mortgage-backed securities, this risk is known as prepayment risk; • Country/regional risk, which is the chance that world events — such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters — will adversely affect the value and/ or liquidity of securities issued by foreign governments, government agencies, or companies; • Currency risk, which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates; and • Currency hedging risk, which is the chance that the currency hedging transactions entered into by the Fund may not perfectly offset the Fund’s foreign currency exposure. With approximately 30% to 40% of its assets allocated to U.S. and foreign equity securities, the Fund is proportionately subject to the following stock risks: • Stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline; • Investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from mid- and large-capitalization dividend-paying value stocks will trail returns from the global stock markets. Mid- and large-cap stocks each tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than other segments of the stock market or the global stock market in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years. Historically, mid-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than large-cap stocks because, among other things, mid-size companies are more sensitive to changing economic conditions; • Country/regional risk, which is the chance that world events —such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters — will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, including emerging markets, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area; and • Currency risk, which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Country/regional risk and currency risk are especially high in emerging markets. The Fund is also subject to manager risk, which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the U.S. and foreign stock and bond markets, any of which could cause an investor to lose money.
Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text]	rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution	An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Annual Total Returns
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	This is the Fund’s initial prospectus, so it does not contain performance data.
Performance One Year or Less [Text]	rr_PerformanceOneYearOrLess	This is the Fund’s initial prospectus, so it does not contain performance data.
Retail | Vanguard Global Wellesley Income Fund | Investor Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Purchase Fee	rr_MaximumCumulativeSalesChargeOverOther	none
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends	rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther	none
Redemption Fee	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	none
Account Service Fee (for certain fund account balances below $10,000)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	$ 20	[1]
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.12%
12b-1 Distribution Fee	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.30%	[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.42%	[2]
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	$ 43
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	135
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	43
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	$ 135
Retail | Vanguard Global Wellesley Income Fund | Admiral Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Purchase Fee	rr_MaximumCumulativeSalesChargeOverOther	none
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends	rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther	none
Redemption Fee	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	none
Account Service Fee (for certain fund account balances below $10,000)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	$ 20	[1]
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.12%
12b-1 Distribution Fee	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.20%	[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.32%	[2]
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	$ 33
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	103
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	33
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	$ 103

[1] /year

[2] The expense information shown in the table reflects estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.