Author: World Bank

The World Bank Group is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. Its focus is on helping the poorest people in the poorest countries by using its …

The world’s demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effec …

Aquaculture-the farming of fish and aquatic plants-has become the world’s fastest-growing food production sector, even as the amount of wild fish caught in our seas and freshwaters declines. From fis …

The ‘Forests Sourcebook’ provides practical operations-oriented guidance for forest sector engagement toward the goals of poverty reduction, conservation and economic development. Intended to guide W …

Climate change remains a global challenge requiring international collaborative action. Another area where countries have successfully committed to a long-term multilateral resolution is the liberali …

Access to financial services varies sharply around the world. In many developing countries less than half the population has an account with a financial institution, and in most of Africa less than o …

This World Bank Working Paper discusses equity and efficiency issues in secondary education transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its main purpose is to identify and analyze national, regional, and loca …

This study is based on research on secondary textbook and school library provision in Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Togo, as well as existing recent c …

Increasingly the role of management and governance is recognized as important for providing and delivering effective services at all levels of education. In view of the growing demand for more and be …

Economic and social changes, fast evolution of technology, and the growing importance of Internet services and international communications–all these require secondary education providers to adapt w …

The World Bank finances about US$720 million in training every year, through both its lending projects and its in-house World Bank Institute (WBI). The evaluation found that while most of the trainin …

‘Global Monitoring Report 2008’, the fifth in an annual series, is essential reading for those who wish to follow the global development agenda and debate in 2008. The year marks the midpoint toward …

Looking for accurate, up-to-date data on development issues? ‘World Development Indicators’ is the World Bank’s premier annual compilation of data about development. This indispensable statistical re …

Policies promoting pro-poor agricultural growth are the key to helping countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals-especially the goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015. The public sector, …

The Caribbean Region is second only to Africa in the impact of HIV and AIDS. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has responded to this challenge by promoting a multisectoral response to the epidemic. U …

* Why have only 13 developing world economies achieved sustained, high growth since World War II?* Why is engagement with the global economy necessary to achieve high growth?* Why do some countries’ …

This thematic study consists of case studies of Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda, as well as, a review of studies undertaken over the past ten years on education in Africa with particular attention to girls …

This independent evaluation of the Doing Business Indicators assesses the methods and processes used to construct the indicators, their relevance to development outcomes, and their usefulness to poli …

The ‘Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook’ provides an up-to-date understanding of gender issues and a rich compilation of compelling evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners …

For the World Bank and its partners, the ever-present test is to deliver results-to lift people out of poverty and promote socially and environmentally sustainable development. Achieving such success …

‘The Sunken Billions: The Economic Justification for Fisheries Reform’ shows the difference between the potential and actual net economic benefits from marine fisheries is about $50 billion per year, …

Today’s enormous development challenges are complicated by the reality of climate change-the two are inextricably linked and together demand immediate attention. Climate change threatens all countrie …

The main objective of this report is to help policymakers in the Caribbean design an agenda of policy actions to accelerate trade integration and growth and reduce poverty. The report is a joint resp …

Sustainable infrastructure development is vital for Africa’s prosperity. And now is the time to begin the transformation. This volume is the culmination of an unprecedented effort to document, analyz …

Global warming and changes in climate will have severe and lasting impacts on national efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development. Some of the world’s poorest countries and comm …

‘The Annual Review of Development Effectiveness 2009’ presents evidence on the World Bank’s efforts in two areas. Part I tracks the outcomes of Bank projects and country programs and the evolution of …

Earthquakes, droughts, floods, and storms are natural hazards, but unnatural disasters are the deaths and damages that result from human acts of omission and commission. Every disaster is unique, but …

Climate change is arguably the most profound challenge facing the international community in the 21st century. It is as much a challenge for poverty reduction, growth and development as it is a globa …

‘Gender and Governance in Rural Services’ provides policy-relevant knowledge on strategies to improve agricultural and rural service delivery with a focus on providing more equitable access to these …

‘The Education System in Malawi’, an Education Country Status Report (CSR), is a detailed analysis of the current status of the education sector in Malawi, the results of which have been validated by …

This report is a pilot cross-country study that summarizes 10 years (1998-2008) of the World Bank’s engagement at the state level in selected large federal countries and combines elements of a countr …

"The crisis has deeply impacted virtually every economy in the world, and although growth has returned, much progress in the fight against poverty has been lost. More difficult international con …

‘The Little Data Book on Africa 2010’ is a pocket edition of ‘Africa Development Indicators 2010’. It contains some 115 key indicators on economics, human development, governance, and partnership and …

Innovation in all its forms, particularly technological innovation, has become a crucial driver of growth, enhancing competitiveness and increasing social well-being in all economies of the world. In …

This paper, based on quantitative surveys at the level of primary health care facilities, health care personnel, and households in their vicinity, aims at understanding the performance of primary hea …

The training and development of human capital in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will help countries in the region diversify their economies, carry out economic transformation, and support sustainable growt …

The World Bank’s Forests Strategy, adopted in October 2002, charts a path for the Bank’s proactive engagement in the sector to help attain the goal of poverty reduction without jeopardizing the envir …

Investing to promote agricultural growth and poverty reduction is a central pillar of the World Bank’s current rural strategy, ‘Reaching the Rural Poor’ (2003).This ‘Sourcebook’ addresses how to impl …

Policy makers recognize that developing capacity for knowledge and technology driven growth is necessary for Swaziland to integrate into the global economy and to be competitive; in particular becaus …

Forty-four African ministers of finance and of education from 28 countries met in Tunis at a July 2009 conference on "Sustaining the Education and Economic Momentum in Africa amidst the Current …

Development patterns, increasing population pressure, and the demand for better livelihoods in many parts of the globe all contribute to a steadily deepening global water crisis. Development redirect …

Geographical differences in living standards are a pressing concern for policymakers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Economies of agglomeration mean that production is most efficient when …

What is the human cost of the global economic crisis? This year’s ‘Global Monitoring Report, The MDGs after the Crisis’, examines the impact of the worst recession since the Great Depression on pover …

Looking for accurate, up-to-date data on development issues? ‘World Development Indicators’ is the World Bank’s premier annual compilation of data about development. This indispensable statistical re …

Guangdong, a province of over 93 million residents, is located on the southern coast of China, boarding with Hong Kong, China. As China’s powerhouse for economic growth and a pioneer of reform and op …

The Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011 updates the 2008 edition of the Factbook with additional data for 71 countries collected from various sources, including national censuses, labor force sur …

This book is the latest report by the World Bank to estimate comprehensive wealth — including produced, natural and human / institutional assets — for over 100 countries. This ground-breaking repor …

This book presents the findings and recommendations of the evaluation of the World Bank’s Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Pilot Program. It shows that SEA can contribute to improving develop …

The overall objective of this comprehensive report is to consider Rwanda’s budget support in the context of its overall public expenditure and resources. The report reviews the country’s general budg …

This report provides the most comprehensive and rigorous analysis of Iraqi income and expenditure in several decades. The report makes extensive use of the Iraq Household Socio-Economic Survey, the f …

This Peru Country Program Evaluation for the World Bank Group, 2003-2009 is part of IEG’s country program evaluation series. To date, IEG’s in-depth country evaluations have comprised IEG-WB Country …

The World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Research Institute, and the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID), in collaboration with researchers affil …

Eighth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulations in 183 economies, Doing Business 2011 measures regulations affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity: starting a business, d …

The 2010 World Bank Entrepreneurship Snapshots (WBGES) provide a unique indicator of business creation around the world and facilitate the investigation of the factors that foster dynamic private sec …

Financial inclusion has become a major subject of interest among policymakers, researchers, and other financial sector stakeholders. Many countries, for example, have recently adopted explicit financ …

This report tries to put boundaries around the abstraction that is "social inclusion". It is intended for policy makers, academics, activists and development partners – indeed anyone who is …

International Debt Statistics (IDS) 2014 is a continuation of the World Bank’s publications Global Development Finance, Volume II (1997 through 2009) and the earlier World Debt Tables (1973 through 1 …

The Little Data Book on Financial Development 2014 is a pocket edition of the Global Financial Development Database, published as part of the work on the Global Financial Development Report 2014: Fin …

The Independent Evaluation Group found that the World Bank Group’s investment in innovation can be enhanced through systemic efforts, and presented recommendations for the Bank Group, including exami …

World Development Indicators 2014 provides a compilation of relevant, high-quality, and internationally comparable statistics about global development and the fight against poverty. It is intended to …

The Little Data Book 2014 is a pocket edition of World Development Indicators 2014. It is intended as a quick reference for users of the World Development Indicators database, book, and mobile app. T …

The Little Green Data Book is a pocket-sized ready reference on key environmental data for over 200 countries. Key indicators are organized under the headings of agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, …

This Little Data Book presents tables for over 213 economies showing the most recent national data on key indicators of information and communications technology (ICT), including access, quality, aff …

One of a series of pocket-sized books that provide a quick reference to development data on different topics, ‘The Little Data Book on Private Sector Development 2014’ provides data for more than 20 …

Fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS) have become an important focus of World Bank Group assistance in recent years as recognition of the linkages between fragility, conflict, violence, and pove …

This Book has been prepared by the World Bank, based on an extensive consultation-based diagnostic exercise initiated at the request from the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat. The EAC – in it …

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are still signifi cant players in critical economic sectors such as infrastructure, finance, natural resources, and manufacturing. They are under increasing pressure to …

Twelfth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 189 economies, Doing Business 2015 measures regulations affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity: *Starting a business * …

In 2013, the World Bank Group adopted two new goals to guide its work: ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. More specifically, the goals are to reduce extreme poverty in the world t …

The World Bank Group promotes small and medium enterprise (SME) growth through both systemic and targeted interventions. Targeting means focusing benefits on one size-class of firms to the exclusion …

International Debt Statistics (IDS) 2015 (formerly Global Development Finance) provides statistical tables showing the external debt of 128 developing countries that report public and publicly guaran …

World Development Indicators 2015World Development Indicators 2015 provides a compilation of relevant, highquality, and internationally comparable statistics about global development and the fight ag …

As in previous years, global growth disappointed in 2014, but a lackluster recovery is underway, with increasingly divergent prospects in major economies and developing countries. Looking ahead, grow …

Aging is a challenge which countries in East Asia and Pacific (EAP) regions are grappling with or will soon confront. It raises many questions for policymakers ranging from potential macroeconomic im …

The Kurdistan region of Iraq is facing an economic and humanitarian crisis as a result of the influx of Syrian refugees which began in 2012 and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 2014. The region …

The Little Data Book 2015 is a pocket edition of World Development Indicators 2015. It is intended as a quick reference for users of the World Development Indicators database, book, and mobile app. T …

The Little Data Book on Financial Inclusion 2015 is a pocket edition of the Global Financial Inclusion Database published in 2015 in "The Global Findex Database 2014: Measuring Financial Inclusi …

This handy pocket guide is a quick reference for users interested in gender statistics. The book presents gender-disaggregated data for more than 200 economies in an easy country-by-country reference …

This Little Data Book on Information and Communications Technology 2015 presents tables for over 213 economies showing the most recent national data on key indicators of information and communication …

The little data book on Private Sector Development 2015 is a reliable cross-country data on aspects of private sector development, crucial in planning for economic recovery and growth. In targeting i …

Private firms are at the forefront of the development process, providing more than 90 percent of jobs, supplying goods and services, and representing a significant source of tax revenues. Their abili …

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are long-term contracts between a private party and a government agency that strive to provide a public asset or service in which the private party bears both some …

Doing Business 2016 is the 13th publication in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 189 economies. This year the publication addresses regulations affecting 10 areas of everyda …

International Debt Statistics (IDS) 2016 (formerly Global Development Finance) provides statistical tables showing the external debt of 125 developing countries that report public and publicly guaran …

World Development Indicators 2016 provides a compilation of relevant, high-quality, and internationally comparable statistics about global development and the fight against poverty. It is intended to …

The Little Data Book 2016 is a pocket edition of World Development Indicators 2015. It is intended as a quick reference for users of the World Development Indicators database, book, and mobile app. T …

The Little Green Data Book 2016 is a pocket-sized ready reference on key environmental data for over 200 countries. Key indicators are organized under the headings of agriculture, forestry, biodivers …

The Little Data Book on Private Sector Development 2016 is a reliable cross-country data on aspects of private sector development, crucial in planning for economic recovery and growth. In targeting i …

Urbanization is transforming the developing world. However, understanding the pace, scale, and form of urbanization has been limited by a lack of consistent data. East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape …

The question of whether political, fiscal, and administrative decentralization improves government effectiveness is hotly debated among researchers and policy makers. ‘Decentralization, Democracy, an …

‘The Invisible Poor’ seeks to raise the profile of the rural poor in Argentina, promote dialogue on rural poverty issues, provide the best currently available information about rural poverty, and off …

This volume is the first of its kind to present a comprehensive assessment of the health sector in Afghanistan. Although health outcomes here are some of the worst in the world, the sector has made c …

This book presents the key findings from a new poverty assessment for Vietnam, led jointly by the World Bank and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS). It takes a fresh look at the lives of p …

The Global Monitoring Report 2014/2015: Ending Poverty and Sharing Prosperity was written jointly by the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund, with substantive inputs from the O …

The Little Green Data Book 2015 is a pocket-sized ready reference on key environmental data for over 200 countries. Key indicators are organized under the headings of agriculture, forestry, biodivers …

The Global Monitoring Report 2015/2016: Development Goals in an Era of Demographic Change details the progress toward the global development goals and examines the impact of demographic change on ach …

In order to minimize the need for taxpayers to respond to multiple revenue agencies, some countries have integrated their revenue administrations, either by merging tax and customs administration, or …

Mongolia was one of the East Asian economies hardest hit by the global downturn, as copper prices collapsed and external demand fell. This Economic Retrospective highlights the key economic, financia …

Entrepreneurship is a fundamental driver of growth, development, and job creation. While Latin America and the Caribbean has a wealth of entrepreneurs, firms in the region, compared to those in other …

HIV/AIDS reverses life expectancy gains, erodes productivity, consumes savings and dilutes growth efforts, threatening the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa.The report …

Tanzania’s annual real economic growth rate has in recent years been between 6 and 7 percent with Gross National Income equivalent to about US$340 per person. A "hidden" economy could poten …

Why abolish school fees in Africa? The answer seems obvious: to achieve the right to education for all and thus promote equitable participation in economic growth and political action. However, movin …

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a critical part of the ever more integrated global economy, where knowledge-based activities have become increasingly important and pervasive. ICT en …

Foreign direct investment and private capital flows are highly concentrated geographically, with almost half of them reaching five top destinations. These flows tend to evade many high-risk countries …

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the World Bank Group’s support for health, nutrition, and population (HNP) in developing countries from 1997 to 2008 – totaling more than $17 billion – and d …

‘Global Development Finance’ – the World Bank’s annual report on the external financing of developing countries – provides monitoring and analysis of development finance, identifying key emerging tre …

Sub-Saharan Africa is a critical development priority-it has some of the world’s poorest countries and during the past two decades the number of poor in the region has doubled, to 300 million-more th …

Governments fail to provide the public goods needed for development when its leaders knowingly and deliberately ignore sound technical advice or are unable to follow it, despite the best of intention …