Reforms spurred by accession to the European Union (EU) boosted productivity and integrated Romania into the EU economic space. Gross domestic product per capita rose from 30 percent of the EU average in 1995 to 59 percent in 2016. Today, over 70 percent of the country's exports go to the EU,...

The objective of this report is to present a snapshot of the welfare landscape in Djibouti that will help stakeholders understand poverty's determinants. Exploiting data from the 2017 household expenditure survey, as well as administrative and geospatial data, it provides a detailed analysis of...

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of poverty and inequality in Tanzania and identifies some priority actions if poverty is to be reduced. The analysis is contained in two parts. The first part is based on the results of the Household Budget Surveys (HBSs) for 2017-18, 2007, and...

Over the last five decades, Colombia has made substantial progress in protecting its environment. This includes restructuring its legal and regulatory landscape, undertaking policy initiatives, and strengthening its capacity for protecting and managing its natural resources and environmental...

Between 2002 and 2012-13, most of the reduction in poverty was due to increased earnings, as opposed to higher employment or higher transfers. Although it is hard to be certain, increases in earnings are associated with: (i) a slow structural transformation away from agriculture and into...

The objective of this Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) is to identify the priority constraints Bolivia faces in sustaining its gains on reducing poverty and enhancing shared prosperity over the next years. It will analyze the dynamics behind the progress achieved in the past decade on...

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) reported over 30 million Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and around 960,000 deaths as of May 2021. Official tracking data shows that Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina have the highest number of reported cases throughout LAC, which in turn is the region with among...

Following a strong recovery after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, growth in the European Union (EU) is expected to sharply decelerate in 2023 as high inflation and increasingly tight monetary policy dampen economic activity. Despite considerable resilience, the EU economy is in a weakened...

Hydropower and irrigation projects involving reservoirs can displace thousands of people from their traditional lands and deprive them of their livelihoods. If poorly planned, they can also lead to environmental degradation. Solutions to these problems must be found--solutions that are...