This report is part of a joint study between the European Commission (EC), the World Bank, andthe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It aims to inform activation and employment support and social inclusion policy making and programs through an improved understanding...

Policy makers across the Middle East and North Africa have for many years articulated plans to integrate their people spatially and economically. Wishing to bring communities together and narrow economic gaps, governments have made large capital investments in transport corridors and "new...

Addressing regional disparities is key to unlocking Russia's potential to achieve stronger gains in growth and equity outcomes as well as to improve its institutional environment. While spatial disparities have been an important policy concern in Russia for a long time, inequalities across its...

Romania lags behind other European Union (EU) countries in many health outcomes. The government of Romania plans to build three new regional hospitals in the North-West (NW), North-East (NE), and South-West (SW) regions. These are envisaged to be tertiary referral hospitals providing highly...

Russia's spatial disparities stem largely from its economic geography, which is unique and has no parallels even when compared to seemingly similar countries such as Australia and Canada. While Australia and Canada also have large land masses and even lower population densities than Russia, a...

On average, Vietnam has achieved remarkable improvements in nutritional status in recent decades, but improvements in national aggregates mask wide disparities and a persistent 'very high' burden among disadvantaged ethnic minority groups. Between 2000 and 2010, national stunting rates dropped...

Against the backdrop of increasing income inequality, this report uses spatial analysis to assesses whether disparities in access to basic infrastructure between Mozambique's lagging and leading regions are growing or declining and whether the public expenditure program is effective in...

Poland is facing an enormous demographic change as the population age at unprecedented pace. Life expectancy is steadily increasing while birth rates for years have remained below simple replacement rate. Access to and quality of long-term care (LTC) services (support for people who are...

The Subnational DeMPA is a methodology for assessing subnational debt management performance at the level of local government through a comprehensive set of indicators spanning the full range of subnational debt management functions. The SN DeMPA methodology was revised and aligned to the...

Benin remains at moderate risk of external debt distress. The rating is unchanged from the previous November 2018 DSA. All the projected external debt burden indicators remain below their thresholds under the baseline, but the ratio of the present value (PV) of external debt to exports exceeds...