The Philippines aspires to become a predominantly middle-class society by 2040. Significant strides have been achieved in the reduction of extreme poverty. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of recent gains and the vulnerability of many households to economic shocks. This study...

In the context of rural sustainability and poverty alleviation within the developing world, a key dilemma facing the international community is to identify suitable strategies and mechanisms to bring multiple stakeholders together to work in efficient and sustainable ways. This paper focuses on...

The 2011-2020 period is the final stage of poverty alleviation in China, which emphasizes regional development. Using county-level panel data from 2006 to 2015, we explore the impact of regional poverty alleviation policy on economic growth of contiguous destitute areas (CDAs) in China. The...

This study investigates the impact of government-business relationships on corporate involvement in the People's Republic of China's poverty alleviation campaign. Using data on Chinese-listed firms from 2017 to 2020, we find that closer government-business relationships, as measured by a...

This research examines the development and evaluation of an optimization framework for the strategic deployment of financial resources in microfinance initiatives in Barranquilla, Colombia. The framework incorporates an array of variables, including market dynamics, institutional elements,...

A new generation of policies can trace the path from wealth to inclusion. Building on its urban and youthful population, Equatorial Guinea can shift from a model of extraction to one of prosperity. This report—the World Bank's first Poverty and Equity Assessment for Equatorial...

This study examines the career aspirations of economically disadvantaged Filipino children participating in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Philippines' flagship conditional cash transfer program. Using data from 9,958 children aged 10 to 25 collected through the Fourth Wave...

How do systemic modes of discrimination-such as a caste system, or racial bias-impact the transmission of intergenerational opportunities in a developing country? What are the mechanisms by which discriminatory norms in labour and marriage markets affect such opportunities? How could we measure...

Land-use policies shape the spatial allocation of infrastructure, services, and development and thus have direct implications for welfare. This paper examines the effects of Colombia's municipal territorial plan updates on poverty through the lens of the housing and services channel. Using...

Colombia has a complex legal framework meant to protect the population against basic risks through a combination of contributory and non-contributory social insurance. The population is almost perfectly split between them, with eligibility to participate in the latter determined by poverty....

How effective are cash transfers at improving labour market outcomes in settings characterized by severe job scarcity and constraints to self-employment? This paper provides evidence of the labour market effects of South Africa's Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, a low-value, unconditional...

South Africa has a relatively well-developed social protection system for a middle-income country. Despite its roots in the country's racially discriminatory past, the system has been repurposed post-apartheid to address deep poverty and severe inequality. This paper explores key characteristics...

Chile combines high income levels and strong human development outcomes with persistent inequality. This paper examines the country's social protection matrix, focusing on its institutional configuration, financial structure, and main outcomes. The analysis distinguishes three core components-...

The paper examines the structure of the social protection system in Egypt including its contributory and non-contributory components. It begins by examining the historical evolution of the system, its scale and reach, and its sources of financing. The book then assesses the de jure and de facto...

This working paper investigates the tension between market forces and welfare policies by applying Karl Polanyi's "double movement" study to pre- and posttransformation Poland. The analysis aims at providing a comprehensive perspective on how poverty relief policies impacted and have been...

The haor (Ox-bow Lake) region in Bangladesh, comprising seven districts, is rich in fishing, biodiversity, and boro-rice cultivation. However, its people are poorer due to wet monsoon seasonality. This study evaluates the joint impact of microcredit facilities and social safety net programs...

Since the late 1980s, extreme poverty has declined sharply, life expectancy and schooling have increased, and electoral democracy has expanded. However poverty reduction has slowed in recent years, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, amid intensifying conflict, fragility, climate...

Reducing poverty is a central policy priority in many countries, also in wealthy countries with comprehensive universal support systems, such as the Nordic welfare states. This study examines policy options designed to support families with preschool-aged children and their implications for...

Ceremonies are central to social life, yet the pressure to conform to community spending norms traps households in a collectively suboptimal equilibrium, imposing severe financial burdens. Using nationally and regionally representative longitudinal data from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, we...

Disasters due to natural hazards pose a significant threat to people’s well-being and increase the risk of poverty, particularly in vulnerable populations. This paper provides a novel global estimate of poverty due to disasters, showing that 25.6 million people are at risk of poverty due to...

This 2025 Poverty and Equity Assessment examines Bangladesh’s progress in poverty reduction and inclusive development from 2010 to 2022. Poverty in Bangladesh declined between 2010 and 2022, but the pace of progress slowed after 2016, and over one-third of the population remained vulnerable to...

The issues of income inequality and poverty are intrinsically linked and represent persistent global governance challenges. China faced significant hurdles, including absolute rural poverty and a widening urban-rural development gap. The "Targeted Poverty Alleviation" policy (TPA), implemented...

The Philippines aspires to become a predominantly middle-class society by 2040. Significant strides have been achieved in the reduction of extreme poverty. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of recent gains and the vulnerability of many households to economic shocks. This study...

Cahyadi et al. (2020) examine the cumulative effects of conditional cash transfer programs in Indonesia after 2 and 6 years. They find beneficial effects for several of the indicators targeted by the cash transfer programme. They find a substantial increase in childcare using trained...

Linked administrative data on education, health, social services, and crime from British Columbia, Canada, are used to document the relationship between measures of secondary educational attainment and indicators of poor outcomes later in life. Poor outcomes are seen to manifest primarily among...

Indonesia has lowered the total poverty rate by less than 10%. Earlier poverty measurements in Indonesia suggest that transient poverty is more prevalent. We argue that, when employing the Equally Distributed Equivalent (EDE) approach and disaggregated poverty lines, chronic poverty is more...

The present study investigates the incidence of financial institutions' dynamics of depth and access in the effect of income inequality on poverty and the severity of poverty in 42 Sub-Saharan African countries from 1980 to 2019. The Gini index is used to measure income inequality while poverty...