WASHINGTON, October 7, 2025 – The latest World Bank economic report on the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (MENAAP) points to an improved economic outlook for the region, with expected growth reaching 2.8 percent in 2025 and 3.3 percent in 2026. However, global uncertainty, trade policy shifts, and continued conflict and displac...
Executive summaryMobile phones and the internet are revolutionizing financial inclusion, enabling more people to access and use digital financial services to manage their financial lives. From mobile money accounts accessible on basic phones to bank-account-linked wallets used on smartphones, digital services are fulfilling their promise of being more acce...
Overall performance slides, but some developing country ports improved between 2020-2024Washington, D.C., September 22, 2025 — Port performance across the world declined between 2020 and 2024 due to the Red Sea Crisis, challenges at the Panama Canal, and pandemic-related shocks, according to a new report released today. However, efficiency gains vari...
AbstractThe environmental Kuznets curve postulates an invert ed-U relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth. And economic growth has been synon ymous with structural transformation. How do patterns of growth and structural transformation relate to carbon emis sions? Based on data across almost 100 countries between 1960 an...
AbstractThis paper presents the first estimates of extreme child poverty and child poverty using the World Bank’s recently revised international poverty lines. Using the international poverty line of $3.00 per day and the higher $8.30 per day poverty line (both expressed in 2021 purchasing power parity), the paper provides new results of the glo...
Safeguarding natural resources generates high returns in some sectors.WASHINGTON, September 1, 2025—Ninety percent of the world lives with either degraded land, unhealthy air, or water stress, according to a new World Bank report, however, restoring natural systems is possible and can yield high returns.In low-income countries alone, eight of out ten peop...
