Twenty years after the end of the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has yet to achieve shared prosperity for its citizens and approach European living standards. The country has been at peace since the end of 1995, but its development model needs adjustment if it is to join the ranks of...

Situated in a fertile low-lying river delta, Bangladesh combines high vulnerability to floods, tropical cyclones, earthquakes, and climate change with one of the world’s highest population densities, with around 159 million people living in less than 150,000 sq. km. With the world’s second...

The systematic country diagnostic (SCD) is designed to identify the most critical binding constraints and opportunities facing Indonesia in ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. In line with the World Bank Group’s (WBG’s) new country engagement model, the findings of the SCD...

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...

After years of strong performance in the run-up to the European Union (EU) accession, Bulgaria’s growth has slowed down and poverty remains the highest in the EU. Bulgaria achieved the highest recorded growth rates between 2000-08 on the back of exceptionally high capital inflows, structural...

This systematic country diagnosis (SCD) for Chad aims to identify how to achieve the twin goals of ending poverty and improving shared prosperity. It acknowledges both: (i) the need for selectivity in pro-poor interventions, and (ii) the inherent difficulty to do so given the many competing...

This document is hence organized not around the three types of challenges, but around five themes of governance, public finance issues, private sector-led economy, poverty and environment, and human capital, all crucial to achieving faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth. Chapter one...

Uruguay currently stands out in Latin America for its higher per capita income, low inequality, low poverty, and virtual absence of indigence. As a proportion of the total population, the size of Uruguays middle class is the largest in Latin America, encompassing well over half the population....

This systematic country diagnostic is structured in two main parts, one backward looking and the other forward looking. The backward-looking analysis aims to draw lessons on the determinants of poverty and sustainable and inclusive growth from (a) stakeholder consultations; (b) a poverty profile;...

Lesotho is one of the poorest and most unequal countries in the world. It is a small, mostly mountainous, and largely rural country of about 2 million people, completely surrounded by South Africa. The persistence of poverty and rising inequality are striking for an economy that grew at annual...