Colombia's solid economic growth since early 2000s has led to significant social improvements. Since the turn of the century, extreme poverty in Colombia almost halved, falling from 17.7 percent in 2002 to 7.4 percent in 2017. Similarly, moderate poverty fell from 49.7 percent to 26.9 percent...

About 80 percent of the poor households in Timor-Leste live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. It is therefore widely acknowledged that growth in the agriculture sector is an important channel through which poverty can be reduced in the country. That...

Small area estimates of poverty and inequality statistics, through survey-to-census imputation that lets consumption be estimated for each and every household in a census, are useful for at least three reasons. First, they can help improve the effectiveness of public spending, by targeting to...

This Systematic Country Diagnostic is the result of a diagnostic exercise conducted by World Bank staff. It was prepared to inform the strategic dialogue between the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and the World Bank about priority areas for World Bank Group engagement. This...

Somalia is on the path to political and security stabilization after more than two decades of civil war and conflict. Opportunities to ensure a development trajectory face many challenges since the country remains a fragile state subject to multiple shocks. Widespread poverty and food insecurity...

Bangladesh has an inspiring story of reducing poverty and advancing development. Since 2000, the country has reduced poverty by half. In the last decade and a half, it lifted more than 25 million out of poverty. The country's economy remained robust and resilient even in the face of many...

Bangladesh has an inspiring story of reducing poverty and advancing development. Since 2000, the country has reduced poverty by half. In the last decade and a half, it lifted more than 25 million out of poverty. The country's economy remained robust and resilient even in the face of many...

In 2015, a large share of Egypt's population was either poor (27.8 percent) or not poor but vulnerable to falling into poverty (an additional 28.7percent); most of the poor and vulnerable lived in the governorates of Upper Egypt. Clearly the country faces a challenge, but it also has the...

In recent years, it has become clear that many children around the world are not learning to read proficiently. As a major contributor to human capital deficits, the learning crisis undermines sustainable growth and poverty reduction. To spotlight this crisis, we are introducing the concept of...