The blog delves into India's recent inclusion in global bond indices, marking a notable financial transition that is projected to attract $30-40 billion annually in foreign investment over…

Laurent Gonnet, Tushar Arora |

Technology-based payment service providers—payment fintechs—have disrupted payment market transformationally and are entering the credit market. PayPal and Square are the most prominent examples…

Kumar Rishabh, Jorma Juhani Schäublin |

From plastic pollution to remittance flows, climate change to digital technology, human capital to road safety, we look back at the past year and highlight some of the most popular blogs from 2021…

Trishna Thapa |

The future of the sanitation economy: Perspectives on World Toilet Day

Maria Angelica Sotomayor, Martin Gambrill |

Open defecation is the practice of people defecating outside, such as in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water. Between 2000 and 2017, the world nearly...

Haruna Kashiwase |

Between 1977 and 1997, the World Bank supported “sites and services” projects in 27 cities across India A freshly-minted architect stood staring at a sea of toilets. Row after row of them, on…

Sumila Gulyani |

Within the next 30 years, urban populations in developing countries will double and UN-Habitat estimates that around 3 billion people will need housing and basic infrastructure. Already, 70% of…

Parul Agarwala, Syed Usman Javaid |

Many regions and countries face urbanization challenges, South Asia is no exception. Although the region is currently the least urbanized region in the world, its urbanization rate is on par with…

Judy Deng |

According to recent estimates, South Asia is facing a shortage of 38 million housing units, largely affecting low and middle-income households. It comes as no surprise that informal settlements,…

Parul Agarwala |