Landlocked and mountainous, Tajikistan has a young—and mostly rural—population of about 8.7 million and GNI per capita of USD 1,100 in 2016, making it a lower middle-income country. In 2016, Tajikistan launched the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan for the Period Up...

Liberia’s status as a fragile state is deeply rooted in the political and economic exclusion practiced by the country’s founders. Although they constituted just 5 percent of the population, freed American slaves and their descendants dominated the country’s intellectual and ruling class...

Solomon Islands is a small, remote archipelago in the South Pacific that faces a fairly unique set of development challenges. Solomon Islands is now at a critical juncture in its development trajectory. Neither the economic geography nor the present political economy of Solomon Islands is...

This first systematic country diagnostic (SCD) for Timor-Leste identifies key priorities to sustainably achieve the World Bank Group (WBG) twin goals of eradicating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity in Timor-Leste. The Timor-Leste SCD presents a key set of priorities towards...

South Africa has come a long way since the advent of democracy, but its transition remains incomplete. The first three clauses of the Freedom Charter—the historic 1955 document setting out the central objectives of the democratic movement—were (i) the people shall govern; (ii) all national...

Four mutually supportive strategic pillars and related policy priorities would help Kazakhstan continue the structural transformation that stalled during the oil booms, in order to eliminate poverty and build a large and secure middle class: 1. economic management for diversification, to...

The fate of future generations of Georgians will be decided to start now. A girl born in Georgia today can expect to live for more than 86 years, to 2104. This girl, and her peers, will shape Georgia in the 21st century, but her future will also depend on the path that the country chooses today....

This Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for the Republic of Belarus covers the period FY18–22. It is aligned with the objectives of the Program of Activities of the Government of the Republic of Belarus 2016–2020 and is based on the findings of a World Bank Group Systematic Country...

Zambia has successfully raised its average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate since the early 2000s. Between 2004 and 2014, it averaged 7.4 percent per year. This success was driven by an improvement in the macroeconomic indicators (relative to the 1980s and 1990s), debt relief,...