The World Bank is committed to working with all our stakeholders to end gender-based violence (GBV). The time has come to break the silence surrounding GBV in Central Asia, increase awareness, and…

Tatiana Proskuryakova |

Central Asian countries are joining forces across the environment, agriculture, and health sectors to protect food systems and prevent future pandemics.

Tatiana Proskuryakova, Martien van Nieuwkoop |

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 |

Today, after 25 years of progress reducing global poverty, we are at a precarious moment. Poverty is on the rise. The pandemic is estimated to have increased the number of people living in extreme…

Juergen Voegele |

The One Health initiative, while it may sound deceptively simple, is in fact a complex effort to bring together people, knowledge, expertise, and information to improve the ties between humans,…

Lilia Burunciuc |

Central Asia’s future as a supplier of agri-products and livestock will depend on how food producers and processors in the region respond to the increased quality and safety demands of consumers,…

Lilia Burunciuc |

Economic growth, social inclusion, public health, environmental protection… mobility is at the core of many critical issues that have been shaping the global development agenda. This message came…

Nancy Vandycke |

Jobs and wage growth have been the most important driver of poverty reduction globally, and Central Asia. In Tajikistan, for example, it has cut poverty by about two-thirds since 2003. In…

Lilia Burunciuc |

Did you know that in Kazakhstan we live in the country with the deadliest roads? Every year,  3, 000 people die on roads in Kazakhstan, and over 30, 000 are injured. Imagine if an airplane crashed…

Aliya Karakulova |

Kazakhstan. Photo: Kubat Sydykov / World Bank How large is the share of public procurement to GDP in middle-income and low-income countries and how it is evolving? If sizable, can public…

Simeon Djankov, Federica Saliola, Asif Islam |