Following the Herat province (Western Afghanistan) earthquake sequence of October 7 to 15, 2023, the World Bank carried out a remote desk-based assessment of the physical damages using the Global RApid post-disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) methodology. The objective of the assessment is to...

Extremely severe cyclonic storm Mocha made landfall as a Category 4-equivalent cyclone in the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale on Sunday May 14, 2023, at 07:07 UTC (14:07 local time) around Sittwe city, the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar. Given the fragile and conflict-affected situation...

Universal health coverage (UHC) aims to provide health security and universal access to essential care services without financial hardship to individuals, families and communities. UHC enables a transition to more productive and equitable societies and economies and is enshrined in the 2030...

Transition to a new world order with more diffuse distribution of economic power is under way. This first edition of a new World Bank flagship report, 'Global Development Horizons 2011', focuses on three major international economic trends: the shift in the balance of global growth from...

The paper draws on the Inclusive Global Value Chains report submitted by the OECD and the World Bank Group to G20 Trade Ministers in October 2015, refining and prioritizing the options contained therein. The original report proposed a holistic approach to promoting more inclusive Global Value...

China has achieved remarkable success in financial inclusion. China's rate of account ownership - a basic metric of financial inclusion - has increased significantly in the past two decades and is now on par with that of other G-20 countries. Traditional financial service providers have...

The Philippines' economic growth outlook remains positive, yet downside risks have increased. An expected slowdown in global trade in the medium term is likely to further dampen Philippine exports. Nevertheless, baseline economic growth is projected at 6.5 percent in 2018, 6.7 percent in 2019,...

In 2006-07, the Water and Sanitation Program-South Asia (WSP-SA) initiated a research toidentify barriers to service delivery for the urban poor. The research included a review ofvarious initiatives from across the globe that have resulted in improved service delivery for theurban poor and...

Geographically, Chongqing is strategically positioned as a gateway to China's west, a key connection in the Yangtze river economic belt, and a strategic base for China's belt and road initiative. Over the past two decades, Chongqing has faced significant challenges, including the resettlement of...

Following an initial spike in early 2018, Armenia's economic performance slowed during the rest of the year, but still estimated to have above 5 percent growth for the year. Inflationary pressures remained low, while the external balances deteriorated. The overperformance of the fiscal accounts...