Bolivia is a lower-middle income country, but one of the poorest in South America, with a per capita GNI of US$ 5,750 in 2013 and an average GNI growth rate of 4.4 percent during the last ten years. Nearly 36 percent of its population of 10.6 million (2013) are aged 0 to 14 years and one third...

Egypt is a lower-middle-income country with a GNI per capita (PPP) of US$ 5,654 in 2012. Since the Arab Spring, Egypt?s economic growth has slowed to 0.6 percent in 2012. Half of Egypt?s 82.54 million people live in rural areas. Poverty is concentrated in Upper Egypt (the southern region). As of...

In Nepal, both early marriage and motherhood still place adolescents and their children at a great disadvantage. In 2011, one-third of girls aged 15-19 were already married. About 60 percent of them were pregnant or had at least one child, and one in ten had two living children (Nepal...

Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) is one of five areas of focus of the World Bank?s Reproductive Health Action Plan 2010?2015 (RHAP), which recognizes the importance of addressing ASRH as a development issue with important implications for poverty reduction. Delaying childbearing...

Considerable progress has been made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) since 1990. Although advances in improving MDG 4 and MDG 5a (reducing child and maternal mortality, respectively) have been made, progress is some countries have been insufficient. While some...

Malawi has made great progress in improving maternal and child health (MCH). Under-five mortality declined from 244 to 71 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2012, and maternal mortality declined from 1,100 to 510 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births between 1990 and 2013. This note...

dolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) is one of five areas of focus of the World Bank's reproductive health action plan (RHAP) 2010-2015, which recognizes the importance of addressing ASRH as a development issue with important implications for poverty reduction. Delaying childbearing...