In the past decade, the GCC countries have made a number of steps towards improving women’s access to education, health care, and employment, as well as encouraging women to participate in…

It is undeniable that progress has been made in reducing extreme poverty over the last quarter century—from 36 percent of the world population in 1990 to an estimated 8.6 percent in 2018—and that…

Illicit trade in tobacco products undermines global tobacco prevention and control interventions, particularly with respect to tobacco tax policy. From a public health perspective, illicit trade…

Globally, 56 percent of children live in countries with Human Capital Index (HCI) scores below 0.5. As these countries gear up to improve their human capital outcomes, it is vital to set a target…

Corredor Seco, Honduras. Copyright: Angels Maso. World Bank.  A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit the "Federico Boquín" water treatment plant and dam in Tegucigalpa, one of…

Four years ago, Juan Angel Sandoval, a resident of Barrio Buenos Aires in the Honduran municipality of Siguatepeque, received water at home only three times a week. His was not an isolated reality…

Cities are critical engines of global growth. But as cities grow, they’re increasingly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters.

This blogpost is part of a series of thematic blogs for the World Bank's Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Poverty Diagnostic. Woman carries water containers near polluted stream…

History repeats, history rhymes and sometimes history regresses. Wandering through cities and fields in the Middle East and North Africa a thousand years ago, you would have been struck by the…