"Chen focuses on the effects of age structure changes on the size of budget deficits of national governments. More specifically, he determines whether differences in age structure can account for the observed differences in budget deficits across countries as well as across time. By way of an...

As a result of low fertility rates and high life expectancy, the current demographic trends in Sri Lanka include a declining share of children and increasing share of elderly, and (for now) an increasing working age population. Sri Lanka has a unique window of opportunity to take advantage of...

This chapter introduces the main issues associated with population aging, many of which will be investigated in detail throughout the volume. The next section describes the demographic transformation that Brazil has been experiencing and highlights its specific features, including a very rapid...

The purpose of this report is to examine and propose options for policy design and implementation, based on a situational analysis for six Eastern Caribbean countries and a review of the lessons of other nations in prevention and control. A committed partner of the Organization of Eastern...

The book focuses on the future prosperity of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which together with other companion volumes-on trade and investment, governance, and gender-contributes to ongoing debates, and dialogues about development in the region, and the development challenges...

This policy note provides a view of the main challenges facing Ghana youth and proposes policy options to address them. The note: (i) highlights youth key characteristics from the perspective of their skills and jobs and the constraints they face, (ii) describes the institutional set up and...

Ireland has consistently supported workforce development (WfD) as a key element of economic development. This study has been commissioned by the World Bank to test a new instrument, within its Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER)-WfD project, which provides an opportunity to...

With this Cameroon economic update, the World Bank is pursuing a program of short, crisp and frequent country economic reports. These economic updates provide an analysis of the trends and constraints in Cameroon's economic development. Each issue, produced bi-annually, provides an update of...