With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), world leaders made a bold pledge in 2015 to leave no one behind on the path of development by 2030. Half-way to the target date, some 22 countries…

Samuel Kofi Tetteh Baah, Christoph Lakner, Umar Serajuddin |

Urgent reforms on broadband policy would hasten the digital transformation the Philippines needs to achieve its goal of becoming a prosperous middle-class society by 2040.

Naoto Kanehira, Mitch Abdon, Mary Grace Mirandilla-Santos |

A new World Bank report, Unlivable: What the Urban Heat Island Effect Means for East Asia’s Cities, sheds light on three important questions to help city leaders rise to the extreme urban heat…

Anna Wellenstein, Mark Roberts, Chandan Deuskar, Nick Jones, Jane Park |

The World Bank updated its global poverty lines last month and the number of poor is now significantly different in certain countries and regions. For the EAP region, this changes our view of the…

Rinku Murgai, Hassan Zaman |

Lessons learned from other countries show that successful fuel subsidy reform requires 3 Cs: credible commitment, consensus, and coordination – and underpinned by a 4th C – communications.

Apurva Sanghi, Jevgenijs Steinbuks |

With nearly 10,000 inhabited islands, there are thousands of diverse island communities across Southeast Asia facing the challenge of beaches covered in plastic. Photo: Shutterstock/

Kate Philp |

Social protection measures could cushion energy price shocks. However, social protection measures in the absence of macro- or sectoral- reforms are not fiscally sustainable.

Apurva Sanghi, Jevgenijs Steinbuks |

The World Bank conducted a second round of its High Frequency (HiFy) Phone Survey in October and November 2021 to monitor the well-being of individuals and households through time.

Zainab Ali Ahmad, Ririn Purnamasari, Sean Hambali |

The Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens the uneven recovery of East Asia and Pacific. The invasion comes on top of the economic distress caused by the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, the financial…

Aaditya Mattoo, Ekaterine T. Vashakmadze, Ergys Islamaj |

Language of instruction matters for learning foundational skills

Yew Chong Soh, Ximena Del Carpio, Choon Wang |