Behind the scenes: How we work with creditors on debt transparency
Earlier this year, the World Bank conducted the second round of a Data Sharing Exercise with G-7 and Paris Club creditors. This is the first large-scale
Can everyone afford to eat healthy? New data show progress, but not everywhere
Low-income countries and Sub-Saharan Africa are being left behind in global progress toward affordable healthy diets. Around 2.6 billion people – 32% of the global
Laws, Data, and Empowerment: Insights from UNDP’s Women’s Empowerment Index and World Bank’s Women Business and Law Index
When it comes to improving economic outcomes for women and women’s empowerment, effective action requires reliable data. Yet, data capturing the full scope of women’s
Measuring what matters for business: The new B-READY data in the World Development Indicators
What makes a country a great place to start and grow a business? Among low-income economies across the world, only 29% have a single centralized
Stanley Fischer and the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics: A tribute
Stanley Fischer, the World Bank’s chief economist from January 1988 to August 1990, passed away on May 31, 2025. Stan Fischer’s immense professional contributions to
Finding the signal in the score: How the World Bank Group is aligning the Scorecard and impact evaluations
For years, the World Bank Group’s systems for measuring results operated in parallel tracks: corporate Scorecards that monitored performance through outcome-level targets, and impact evaluations
Building debt transparency and resilience across East Asia and the Pacific
As the world continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, countries face new and unexpected challenges. Elevated debt levels, persistent inflation, and
What will it cost to build the cities of the future?
Cities are engines of economic growth and job creation, and their future pathways will shape global development outcomes for decades to come. But the success
Missing tariffs: How flawed data turn trade policy analysis into a Herculean task
When the Trump administration pledged to impose “reciprocal tariffs” on countries with “unfair” trade practices, trade economists scrambled to determine what such tariffs might look
Finding the sweet spot between bank rivalry and safety
Imagine your favorite open-air market. Stalls hustle for customers, prices fall, and shoppers win—until one fragile roof gives way and everyone scrambles. Banking is similar.
