Vietnam has achieved remarkable success in reducing poverty while controlling inequality. The country's broad-based growth reflects the government's focus on developing labor-intensive export sectors while investing heavily in human capital that saw the country exceed its peers. However, gains...

This report reviews South Africa's recent economic and social developments. It underlines that South Africa's current economic rebound may not be sustained if the fundamental factors undermining its growth potential are not boldly addressed. This includes in particular income inequality, which...

In Thailand, enhancing workforce skills and promoting innovation is part of the country's strategy to facilitate the transformation toward a more knowledge-intensive and creative economy generating good jobs. This report provides valuable insight for Thailand to develop the skills necessary to...

In 2004 the World Bank released a regional report titled 'Inequality in Latin America: Breaking with History?' Analyzing data from the early 1990s to the early 2000s, a period in which many countries in the region were experiencing increasing inequality, this study raised the question of whether...

Poverty reduction is an important goal for governments of many developing countries. This goal is synonymous with economic development and achieving a higher quality of life for all population groups. Thus, monitoring the dynamics of poverty and inequality is implicit in the monitoring of...

Lesotho began a structural economic transformation in the early 1990s. The transformation has brought higher, more secure incomes to households while the government succeeded in dramatically improving access to services such as education, health, water, and transportation. Yet today, Lesotho...

China's progress in poverty reduction over the last 25 years is enviable. One cannot fail to be impressed by what this vast nation of 1.3 billion people has achieved in so little time. In terms of a wide range of indicators, the progress has been remarkable. Poverty in terms of income and...

China's progress in poverty reduction over the last 25 years is enviable. One cannot fail to be impressed by what this vast nation of 1.3 billion people has achieved in so little time. In terms of a wide range of indicators, the progress has been remarkable. Poverty in terms of income and...

This assessment of poverty and inequality comes at an important juncture for Kenya. The December 2007 elections and subsequent pronouncements of the newly formed Grand Coalition have underlined the salience of these issues to ordinary Kenyans, and for policy makers. The violence in early 2008...