For the first time, the latest Women, Business and the Law report assesses not only the degree of equality in laws on the books, but also the extent to which those laws are enforced. Legal experts ...

In Dédougou, a small city in western Burkina Faso, Fatimata Ouarme leads Sanigna. Her small enterprise of 15 workers transforms baobab fruit pulp—prized for its tangy flavor and rich nutritional value ...

Around 1 in 5 children today are living in extreme poverty, according to new World Bank-UNICEF research. In 2024, an estimated 412 million children aged 17 or younger were residing in households ...

Ineffective policies can persist, while potentially effective policies are often not adopted. The World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law explores why some policies fail to achieve ...

The World Bank’s mission is to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet. To effectively monitor progress toward this goal, it is critical to measure poverty on a regular ...

Note to users: The information on applied services trade policies and the Services Trade Restrictions Indices (STRI) provided on this page reflect results from 2024. Updated data for a selection of ...

In response to a widespread and worsening water crisis, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are taking strong steps to ensure a water-secure future for their citizens. In the process, ...

The Cambodia Poverty Assessment 2022: Toward a More Inclusive and Resilient Cambodia shows the country has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty over the past decade, but that some recent gains ...

River in Gabon. Credit: Odilia Hebga / World Bank. Gabon's economy grew by an estimated 2.9% in 2024, but a modest growth has limited job creation increasing poverty. Lower oil revenues and higher ...

The World Bank updated the global poverty lines in September 2022. The decision, announced in May, follows the release in 2020 of new purchasing power parities (PPPs)—the main data used to convert ...

As nations commit to achieving universal health coverage by 2030, there is a growing acknowledgement that access to services is not enough. Improvement in health care delivery requires a deliberate ...

Washington, June 25, 2025 – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved yesterday a US$146 million grant financing to Syria from the International Development Association (IDA) to help ...