2025 Top 10 blogs: Catch up on highlights you may have missed

Of the nearly 90 blogs we published last year, here are the highlights from our 10 most-read posts of 2025.

The Global Economy in Five Charts series tops the list. The January Outlook for 2025–26 projected modest global growth, easing inflation, and weak trade; identifying policy uncertainty (e.g. trade) and heightened geopolitical tensions as key risks. Its June companion reviewed recent trends, showing a weaker growth over the past half‑decade and only a modest trade recovery, with policy and geopolitical risks persisting.

Two blogs on financial inclusion made the top ten: Digital Technology Is Unlocking Financial Inclusion shared insights from the new Findex Report – how digital IDs, mobile money, and instant payments expand access; where persistent gaps remain; and which policy steps can help close them. Financial Inclusion in Africa: Progress, Challenges, and the Road Ahead highlighted what’s working, and the infrastructure and regulation needed to sustain momentum.

The May and October Commodity Markets Outlook in Eight Charts blogs projected commodity prices easing amid weak global growth and policy uncertainty; they flagged geopolitics, trade restrictions, and weather as risks that could push food prices higher keeping food insecurity elevated in the new year.

The January overview in the Risks and Challenges in Global Agricultural Markets series identified drivers of food price volatility and clarified their impact on food security. The July follow-up offered solutions: market transparency, targeted safety nets, and climate-smart investments that strengthen resilience for people and supply chains.

The December blog Economic Growth in 2025 Has Defied the Gloomy Expectations explained why growth in 2025 was stronger than feared – supported by easing inflation and resilience in some advanced and EMDE economies – and why uncertainty from rising trade barriers and geopolitics remains a concern heading into 2026.

Closing the ranking, Global Trade’s Rollercoaster Ride detailed how, despite obstacles, global trade proved surprisingly resilient: services held up best, while goods trade rebounded strongly in 2025; with renewed interest in new trade agreements particularly among emerging-market and developing economies (EMDEs), which have become more active in shaping global trade.

Here are the ten most read blogs produced in 2025:

1. The global economy in five charts: The outlook for 2025–26
2. Digital technology is unlocking financial inclusion (Global Findex 2025)
3. The Commodity Markets Outlook in eight charts (May)
4. The Commodity Markets Outlook in eight charts (Oct)
5. Economic growth in 2025 has defied the gloomy expectations
6. The global economy in five charts (June)
7. Risks and challenges in global agricultural markets (Jan)
8. Risks and challenges in global agricultural markets (Jul)
9. Financial inclusion in Africa: Progress, challenges, and the road ahead
10. Global trade’s rollercoaster ride