Since early May 2020, many countries in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region have conducted high-frequency household phone surveys to monitor the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and to inform…
Protecting ASEAN’s impressive gains over the past two decades will require prioritizing investments in people – that is, human capital.
Among the 29 countries and economies of the East Asia and Pacific region, one finds some of the world’s most successful education systems. Seven out of the top 10 highest average scorers on…
A mother brings her baby to Mitthaphap Hospital for a checkup. Photo: World Bank Lao PDR
On this Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, it is striking to us, working in Lao PDR’s health sector…
Students at Beijing Bayi High School in China. Photo: World Bank In 1950, the average working-age person in the world had almost three years of education, but in East Asia and Pacific (EAP), the…
Students from Tran Dai Nghia High School near Can Tho, Vietnam (Photo: D7K_4030 by makzhou, used under CC BY-NC 4.0 / cropped from original) With the release last month of the latest PISA (Program…
Nearly 50 years ago, books such as Asian Drama: An Inquiry Into The Poverty Of Nations, by the Swedish economist and Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal, offered a dire prediction of famine and poverty…
The Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) is a major global rice producer and exporter but its population suffers from serious levels of poverty and malnutrition. Spanning six countries – China,…
A collection of photos in the Champassak provincial office of Électricité du Laos shows the blue-shirted employees in action. Photo: Naazneen Barma/The World Bank The hallways of the Électricité…
The author at one of the roads renovated with NT2 funds (2010 rainy season).