The experience of many countries around the world clearly shows that while financial sector development can spur economic growth, financial fragility and instability can seriously harm growth. Following the financial crises of the late 1990s, there has been increasing interest in the systematic...

The global financial crisis, the most severe since the great depression, is rapidly turning into a human and development crisis. The financial crisis originated in the developed world, but it has spread quickly and inexorably to the developing world, sparing no country. Increasingly it appears...

What is the human cost of the global economic crisis? How many people will the crisis prevent from escaping poverty, and how many will remain hungry? How many more infants will die? Are children being pulled out of schools, not getting the education they need to become more productive adults and...

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Monterrey Consensus have created a powerful global compact for development. But the continued credibility of this compact hinges on fostering momentum in its implementation. With the five-year stocktaking of the implementation of the Millennium...

The global monitoring report 2008 comes at an important time. This year marks the halfway point in the effort to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) by 2015. This is also an important year to work toward a consensus on how the world is going to respond to the challenge of climate...

One decade remains to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that the international community set out in 2000. Yet the world is still far from achieving the MDGs. This Global Monitoring Report (GMR) reviews the efforts under way to strengthen mutual accountability. Greater resource flows...

This report has been prepared jointly by the staffs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This year we are facing historic development challenges from natural disasters, to food and fuel price spikes, and profound change in the Middle East. Despite high beverage growth in...

Every year, the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) gauges progress across the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), so we can better understand whether we are delivering on basic global needs. These needs include affordable, nutritious food; access to health services and education; and the ability to...

The Global Monitoring Report 2013: Rural-Urban Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals examines rural-urban disparities in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how urbanization, if managed well, can contribute to the attainment of these goals. The report provides...