Government initiatives to reduce the housing deficit in Colombia go back more than a hundred years, but it was only after the creation of the Ministry of Housing as an independent agency, a decade ago, that national housing policy took on the relevance that it has today. Since then, Colombia has...

This paper is part of a series of four Urban Policy Notes that provide a critical review on emergent challenges to Bhutan's increasing urbanization and its ramifications for growth, livability and sustainability in line with the directives of the 12th Five-Year Plan (FYP) and the Vision 2020....

In March 2018, the World Bank finalized an agreement with Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) to conduct a demand survey for housing across Egypt. The survey consisted of a sample of 10,300 households across eight governorates. The inclusive housing finance program...

In less than fifty years, Brazil evolved from a predominantly rural society and economy to a highly urbanized country in which 85 percent of its people now live in urban areas and more than 90 percent of the country’s GDP is generated in the cities. This rapid urbanization process was...

In less than fifty years, Brazil evolved from a predominantly rural society and economy to a highly urbanized country in which 85 percent of its people now live in urban areas and more than 90 percent of the country’s GDP is generated in the cities. This rapid urbanization process was...

While the Brazilian social protection system provides instruments to reduce the risk of destitution from old age and disability with broad coverage, protection against labor income shocks in Brazil remains segmented and largely depends on labor status and household composition. In 2019, nearly...

This case study is part of a series prepared by the World Bank's Water Global Practice to highlight existing experiences in the water sector. The purpose of the series is to showcase one or more of the elements that can contribute toward a Water in Circular Economy and Resilience (WICER) system....

Brazil's pension system takes up an oversized proportion of its social protection spending. It comprises of Regime Geral de Previdencia Social (RGPS), covering private sector workers, and over two thousand Regimes Proprios de Previdencia Social (RPPS), insuring public civil servants at federal...

Bleak short-term economic outlook raises the risk that social and environmental achievements may not be sustained. The changed economic circumstances have exposed shortcomings in Brazil's development model, epitomized by the struggle to achieve a sustainable fiscal policy. Against this...