In the last three decades, East Asia has reaped the demographic dividend. An abundant and growing labor force powered almost one-third of the region’s per capita income growth from the 1960s to…
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,…
Really – let’s. It’s a fact: Indoor air pollution from cooking with solid fuels including wood, charcoal, coal, animal dung, and crop waste in open fires and traditional stoves is the fourth…
Paving a highway in Brazil. In 2014, Brazil's infrastructure investment commitments drove an overall global increase. In March we released the update from the Private Participation in…
When we think of urban expansion in the 21st century, we often think of ‘sprawl’, a term that calls to mind low-density, car-oriented suburban growth, perhaps made up of single-family homes.…
Every minute, dozens of people in East Asia move from the countryside to the city. The massive population shift is creating some of the world’s biggest mega-cities including Tokyo, Shanghai,…
The Yangon Circular Railway is the local commuter rail network in Yangon, Myanmar. In this recording, World Bank Country Manager Kanthan Shankar boards the train on a three-hour ride around the…
Axel talks about his trip to Myanmar in a video below.You can feel the energy in Myanmar today—from the streets of Yangon, in the offices of government ministries and in rural villages. Dramatic…