South Asia has been hit hard by the COVID19 pandemic. Countries need to prepare for future shock and re-envision the delivery of essential services such as health, education, and social protection…
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…
As South Asian countries intensify the fight against COVID-19, it is imperative that social protection programs, including cash transfers, food vouchers, unemployment benefits, pensions, wage…
The World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, IDA has been a reliable partner in South Asia for more than six decades and contributed to a sharp decline in poverty in the region. Yet, for…
Registered nurses look after newborns at a maternity hospital in Freetown Sierra Leone. © Dominic Chavez/World Bank Last week on World Population Day, I was thinking of the joy of children and the…
Yemen is facing an unprecedented political, humanitarian, and development crisis. Long the poorest country in the Arab region, over half its population was living below the poverty line before the…
Another year has passed, and as we do each year-end, here’s a rundown of what content resonated most with you on World Bank social media in 2016. Four World Bank Facebook posts you cared about…
For the first time in history, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen below 10%. The world has never been as ambitious about development as it is today. After adopting the…
Bus lift for persons with disabilities that I saw when I first arrived in Madison, Wisconsin. Photo Credit: Ride Metro Bus When I first visited the college town of Madison, Wisconsin (USA) in 2000…
Just two weeks ago, the citizens of Sierra Leone celebrated the end of Ebola transmission in their country with cheering and dancing in the streets of Freetown. It’s a milestone worth celebrating…