Less than half of EU member states that operate passenger railways offer services with commercial speeds over 200km/h. Nearly a third of passenger railway routes in the EU between medium or large…

Shomik Mehndiratta, Daniel Pulido, Luis C. Blancas, Victor Aragones, Mercedes Gutierrez |

When conflicts end, the tragic impact of lives lost, damages, and the countless needs of people left in its wake are overwhelmingly visible. There are also other long-lasting and damaging…

A.S. Harinath, Ahmed Ali |

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Rapid increase in defaults poses a threat to financial stability of the two economies. From a social standpoint, excessive debt can decrease households’ disposable…

Fernando Dancausa, Martin Melecky |

Gender-based violence (GBV) — the various forms of violence directed at an individual or a group based on their gender, both in public places and within the home — is a phenomenon deeply rooted in…

Marina Wes, Chifundo Chilera |

Twenty percent of women in Eastern Europe and 18 percent in Central Asia have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. The multilayered crises of climate, conflict, and the COVID…

Carolina Sánchez-Páramo, Varalakshmi Vemuru, Sanan Isaba Zaman |

To manage its flood risks, Romania, with the support of the World Bank, has developed new Flood Risk Management Plans for its 11 river basins and for the Danube River, in line with the…

Chris Fischer |

We asked high schoolers aged 16 to 19 from around the world to provide their insights on learning after three years of the global pandemic in up to 500 words in English, French, Spanish, or Arabic…

Iona Lee |

Who is responsible for learning losses from COVID-19? Is it the Kazakhstani government who failed to provide internet to remote areas of the country within the first months of the pandemic?

Aizhan Karpykova |

This World Bank paper argues that transmission infrastructure is a stable operating asset with proven technologies that have remained largely unchanged for over a century. Furthermore,…

Debabrata Chattopadhyay, Durreh Tabassum |

Discover how Central Asian countries are using regional data and knowledge to enhance their disaster preparedness.

Chyi-Yun Huang, Stephan Zimmermann, Stuart Fraser |