Climate change, poverty, and inequality are the defining issues of our age. Tackling climate change will require major social, economic and technological changes, many of which are costly and will require large investments. Did you know….

Financial inclusion is a cornerstone of development, and since 2011, the Global Findex Database has been the definitive source of data on global access to financial services from payments to savings and borrowing. The 2021 edition, based on nationally representative surveys of over 125,000 adults in 123 economies during the COVID-19 pandemic, contains updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services and digital payments, and offers insights into the behaviors that enable financial resilience. The data also identify gaps in access to and usage of financial services by women and poor adults.  

Download the Report   |   Download the Data   |  Executive Summary Visualization

Climate change, poverty, and inequality are the defining issues of our age. Tackling climate change will require major social, economic and technological changes, many of which are costly and will require large investments. Did you know….

Climate change, poverty, and inequality are the defining issues of our age. Tackling climate change will require major social, economic and technological changes, many of which are costly and will require large investments. Did you know….

Use the following clickable timestamps to listen to the podcast.

[00:00] Welcome and introduction of the topic

[01:32] What's happening in terms of agriculture and food in the world right now

[06:47] Visions from Cairo: Food costs, supply chains, local business... and pizza

[13:08] A human catastrophe? Food price crisis related to the war in Ukraine

[14:21] Availability issues, people's access to food, or the production of food?

[18:05] Food prices: How the situation could evolve in the short term

[19:22] Lessons learnt from previous food price crisis

[24:07] Investments in agricultural and food technologies

[27:45] How the World Bank is responding to this crisis

[29:32] Closure and thanks for tuning!

A regional program for the vulnerable Mekong Delta, which contributes 50 percent of the country’s rice production and a third of its agricultural GDP. The region faces threats from coastal and river erosion, sea-level rise, and saltwater intrusion. The program would curtail sand mining and groundwater extraction, retrofit physical assets, and strengthen regional coordination, while supporting the livelihoods of farmers seeking to adapt to the challenges of climate changeAn integrated plan to shield coastal urban areas and transport links from extreme weather. This would include upgrades to road and power assets, and improved weather-risk management and early warning systems.A program to reduce air pollution clogging the Hanoi area, where poor air quality has exceeded World Health Organization guidelines at least five times for extended periods between 2018 and 2021, and where particulate concentrates are predicted to increase.Accelerating the transition to renewable energy with...

Levels of public debt across eastern and southern Africa’s low-income countries have doubled over the last decade. The region’s debt portfolio still predominantly contains multilateral loans (47%) and bilateral loans (35%). However, the share of highly concessional multilateral financing has been continuously declining over the past decade. This gap has been filled with private sector financing, which has increased by a significant 12 percentage points. Today, private sector financing accounts for about 19% of total debt in the eastern and southern African region. This happens as countries in the region shift to tapping the international markets and issuing large bonds (as was the case with Kenya and Rwanda last year).  

These developments are a hard pill to swallow—especially in a region already battling other challenges like fragility, food insecurity, climate change, the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 (coronavirus), and the...

The World Bank’s fertilizer price index rose nearly 15 percent from earlier this year – prices have more than tripled compared to two years ago. High input costs, supply disruptions, and trade restrictions are driving the recent spike. To ease the current food crisis, action needs to be taken now to maintain food production by making fertilizers more accessible and affordable.

As of June 30, 2022, the World Bank approved operations to support vaccine rollout in 78 countries amounting to $10.1 billion. See the latest project financing, project documents and procurement information in the list below. More information will be shared here as it becomes available. 

Through this, the World Bank Group is working with partners on the largest vaccination effort in history to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 2, 2020, at the initial COVID-19 response phase, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a $6 billion Global COVID-19 Response Program (also called the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Program, or SPRP). The program has reached over 100 countries with emergency operations to prevent, detect, and respond to COVID-19 and strengthen systems for public health preparedness. The timing of potential vaccine development was not known when the SPRP was approved, but global vaccine development efforts...

WASHINGTON, September 16, 2021—The World Bank Group today issued the following statement on?the Doing Business report:?

“Trust in the research of the World Bank Group is vital. World Bank Group?research informs the actions of policymakers,?helps countries?make better-informed decisions,?and?allows stakeholders to measure economic and social?improvements more accurately.?Such?research has also been a?valuable tool?for?the private sector,?civil society, academia,?journalists, and others, broadening understanding of global issues.

After?data irregularities on Doing Business 2018 and 2020 were reported?internally in June 2020, World Bank management?paused?the next Doing Business report and?initiated?a series of?reviews?and?audits?of the report and its methodology. In addition, because the internal reports raised ethical matters, including the conduct of former Board officials as well as current and/or former Bank staff, management reported...

As of August 31, 2021, the World Bank approved operations to support vaccine rollout in 54 countries amounting to $4.6 billion. See the latest project financing, project documents and procurement information in the list below. More information will be shared here as it becomes available. 

Through this, the World Bank Group is working with partners on the largest vaccination effort in history to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 2, 2020, at the initial COVID-19 response phase, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a $6 billion Global COVID-19 Response Program (also called the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Program, or SPRP). The program has reached over 100 countries with emergency operations to prevent, detect, and respond to COVID-19 and strengthen systems for public health preparedness. The timing of potential vaccine development was not known when the SPRP was approved, but global vaccine development efforts...

PROGRAM UPDATE: The World Bank and IFC have merged their respective Young Professionals Programs into one World Bank Group Young Professionals Program (WBG YPP).

The new program is now accepting applications on behalf of three institutions (the World Bank, IFC and MIGA).  Building on the rich legacy of its predecessor programs, the WBG YPP will recruit and develop future leaders to collaborate effectively across our institutions on joint WBG solutions to development challenges.

Young Professionals are recruited from around the world, with preference to nationals of WBG member countries and countries of operations. We welcome all qualified individuals from diverse professional, academic, and cultural backgrounds to apply.