World Bank Group

We're helping connect the dots between policy, investment and employment. Read this interactive story to learn examples of how World Bank Group research, analyses, and training have informed game-changing policies that are helping people get to work, thrive, and be productive.

Knowledge to Impact: Research Driving Policy for Cleaner Commutes, Safer Water, and Breathable Air From Somalia to Senegal and from Lahor to Dhaka, the Knowledge Bank is helping connect the dots between policy, investment and employment.

Smart development is the idea that the investments countries and companies make to tackle persistent development needs—building roads, growing food, managing waste, or connecting people—can also build resilience and cut emissions. When designed well, these investments last longer, perform better, and deliver more value. Ultimately, this lays the foundations for job creation and sustainable growth. Done right, it’s not a trade-off; it’s a multiplier.

We call these added effects of our development finance “climate co-benefits"—the parts of development projects that help ensure they are fit for purpose in a changing climate and that use technologies and efficiencies to reduce emissions.

Climate co-benefits are not the main reason countries or companies invest scarce resources in a project, but they help ensure those resources are used in ways that are fiscally sound, efficient, and built to last. Some projects have a large share of climate co-benefits—for example, support for a microfinance facility that provides liquidity for sustainable agriculture investments while helping manage flood risks. Others may have a smaller share (sometimes less than 10%) focused on resilience, such as an industrial park investment that includes upgrading access roads in flood-prone areas.

Last fiscal year, the World Bank Group delivered $50.8 billion in development finance with climate co-benefits, including $33 billion that reduced project emissions. While renewable energy is often the first thing that comes to mind, only 17% of that $33 billion supported renewable power generation. The fuller picture is far richer, showing how climate-smart development reaches every core development sector. It’s not an either-or.

Smart development builds physical resilience. In transport, that can mean building roads that can withstand floods, shifting freight from trucks to rail, and moving buses from diesel to electric. In agriculture, it can mean investing in heat-resistant seeds, so a heatwave doesn’t wipe out a harvest, and helping farmers grow more rice with less water. It also strengthens education and health systems—for example, schools and hospitals with insulation, cooling, and storm-resistant structures—so essential services keep operating when disaster strikes.

Here are a few examples of where this approach is already making a difference. In India, a World Bank-supported project is enabling farmers across Maharashtra to adopt climate-resilient practices across 12.5 million hectares. Through more than 37,000 Farmer Field Schools and the deployment of resilient technologies, the initiative is benefiting over 1.3 million smallholders through digitally enabled services and multiplier effects on yields and income.

In Malawi, a social cash transfer program has provided emergency support to nearly 300,000 households during droughts, helping protect food security and speed recovery from shocks.

In Brazil, World Bank Group support for water and sanitation has strengthened water security, expanded access, reduced losses, and mobilized private investment. Today, more than 3 million people in São Paulo have improved access to water and sewage collection, and over 1 million people have gained access to wastewater treatment—while also lowering emissions and supporting the country’s biodiversity.

These investments deliver meaningful results: projects active as of the end of June 2025 have supported 136 million people to have greater resilience to climate risks, and 208.8 million people to have improved food and nutrition security. In the same period, we have expanded access to energy for 214 million people, and enhanced management of 92.7 million hectares of terrestrial and aquatic areas. We expect these interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 331.8 MtCO2e per year.

This progress is promising, but the stakes are high. Droughts, storms, and floods are growing more frequent and more severe. In developing markets, millions of young people are coming of age and will need jobs to support their families and power future growth. Meeting these challenges will require investment in resilient foundational infrastructure—roads, power, digital access, clean air, land, and water, and health systems—alongside the policy and regulatory reforms needed to mobilize private capital at scale. We are helping advance these priorities through smart development.

✍️ By Jamie Fergusson, Director for Climate, World Bank Group

Trade reform is helping Ghana🇬🇭 move goods faster, reduce costs, and create jobs. With support from the World Bank through the Trade Facilitation Support Program, Ghana is strengthening the systems that underpin trade. This includes improving transparency, reducing administrative barriers, and increasing consistency in border processes.⁠
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✅️ Such reforms are part of a broader effort to support private sector development, deepen regional integration and help businesses connect more effectively to regional and global markets, creating conditions for growth and employment. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3R5tq3p

Did you know that every year since 1987 the World Bank Group has published the Country Income Classifications? On July 1 of each year, the Development Data Group — the World Bank Group’s development data hub — updates the classifications according to gross national income (GNI) per capita estimates from the previous calendar year, placing the economies assessed into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high.

In this year's edition, 218 economies were assessed – six moved into a higher income category, and none moved down. The numbers only tell part of the story. Behind each transition lies a different journey: A country emerging from an economic crisis, an export powerhouse outpacing its peers, an economy that turned out to be 10% larger than previously thought.

The classifications matter because they are a key tool to assess eligibility for concessional financing and development assistance. Read our blog to find out more about the countries changing categories. https://bit.ly/4wslFnk

A child's future does not begin at birth. It is shaped during the first 2,000 days — from conception through age 5 — when maternal care, nutrition, early stimulation, and the strength of the health system shape brain development and physical growth.

How Health, Nutrition, and Early Childhood Development Can Power Growth in Western and Central Africa By 2050, nearly one in five young people in the world will live in Western and Central Africa. This is one of the defining demographic shifts of our time.

Two-thirds of the income gap between developed and developing countries can be attributed to disparities in human capital. Yet, budgets for critical human capital investments are tightening right when investment is needed most as we see gains slowing. Many countries are responding by adding funds on top of fragmented systems, but this rarely produces sustained results. Instead, governments need to be strategic about their investments so that they translate into tangible results for growth and productivity. The Human Capital Trust Fund (HCTF) supports exactly this kind of investment. Here are three recent examples of what it looks like in practice.

➤ In Gambia, the HCTF supported advocacy efforts to combat Female Ge***al Mutilation (FGM). Advocates, lawyers, and policymakers used a powerful asset: nationally available data showing that 76% of women aged 15 to 49 in Gambia have experienced FGM, and that 51% of girls under 14 remain at risk. In July 2024, the parliament rejected the bill that would have decriminalized FGM.

➤In Ethiopia, the HCTF funded a rapid assessment on Program-Based Budgeting reform that was piloted at the regional level and allowed regional authorities to better link budgets with human capital outcomes. The Ministry of Finance endorsed the results, which subsequently informed the design of the World Bank Group’s Ethiopia Human Capital Operation. It is expected to increase children's literacy and reduce stunting among girls, reaching 97 million Ethiopians and 800,000 refugees by 2028. Building on this momentum, the 2025 Human Capital Forum, brought together ministries and development partners to align priorities across health, education and safety net services, livelihoods, and quality jobs. This whole-of-government approach is now shaping Ethiopia’s longer-term development trajectory, placing human capital at its core.

➤ In Bangladesh, the original Human Capital Index revealed sharp disparities: children from the poorest households faced higher stunting rates, lower child survival, and fewer years of schooling than those from richer households. The HCTF complemented this analysis and brought its findings into direct dialogue with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Planning, shifting the conversation toward targeted equitable human capital financing.
Across all three, the pattern is the same: evidence and coordination producing decisions, not just diagnostics.

Building stronger human capital outcomes supports more than social progress; it sustains economic growth, raises productivity, and creates more and better jobs. Under constrained budgets and rising demands, governments cannot rely on spending more alone; they must invest strategically. After all, human capital investment is productive investment. And the stakes only rise with increasing conflicts, famines, droughts, and unemployment, making it all the more critical for countries and development partners to come together for strategic investment in human capital.

Learn more about The Human Capital Trust Fund: https://bit.ly/4v0oVF9

From helping farmers protect their crops to supporting frontline health workers and enabling small businesses to grow, small AI—practical, locally adapted tools—can boost productivity, create jobs, and improve lives. Read this article by Paschal Donohoe, World Bank Group Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer.

How to Ensure AI Serves the Public Good With the right policies, AI can reduce inequalities and expand opportunities, writes Paschal Donohoe.

Global food and nutrition security remains fragile. Global food supplies remain broadly adequate, but higher costs and supply chain disruptions continue to put pressure on prices, while production of major cereals is expected to decline from 2025 record levels.

Global fertilizer markets have faced pressure since early 2026 and in the first five months of 2026, fertilizer prices increased by 35 percent compared to the same period last year. Despite easing in the past weeks, fertilizer markets have not fully stabilized and the effects of reduced applications earlier in the season are likely to become visible only later in harvest outcomes.

There is a 61 to 87 percent probability of El Niño emerging by mid-2026 and persisting into 2027. If realized, rice output could fall by 20 to 50 percent in affected regions, with South Asia, Southern Africa, and parts of East Asia most exposed, further deepening food insecurity in already vulnerable countries

Since the last update, the agricultural, cereal, and export prices indices have decreased by 6, 8, and 7 percent, respectively. Maize and wheat prices, which closed 15 and 13 percent lower, respectively, have driven the decrease in the cereal price index. Rice prices closed 9 percent higher. On a year-on-year basis, the average price for maize is 1 percent lower, whereas rice and wheat prices are 1 and 8 percent higher, respectively. Maize, wheat, and rice prices are 6, 4, and 3 percent higher, respectively, than in January 2020.

Domestic food price inflation remained moderately high between April and May 2026. Data for this period indicates a slight deterioration in low-income countries, resulting in an increase in the share of countries with food inflation above 5 percent (from 40.0 percent to 45.0 percent). On the other hand, conditions improved in lower-middle-income countries (from 40.8 percent to 36.7 percent), upper-middle-income countries (from 34.0 percent to 29.8 percent), and high-income countries (from 6.8 percent to 5.1 percent) (Figure 2a). Regionally, food inflation pressures increased in Latin America and the Caribbean and South Asia, eased in Europe and Central Asia, and remained uneven across Africa, with persistently high levels in parts of Eastern and Southern Africa. In the latest quarterly data, real food prices outpaced headline inflation in about 14 percent of the 169 countries analyzed. This was particularly the case among lower-middle-income countries, where roughly one in six countries recorded positive real food inflation.

MORE INFO: https://bit.ly/4eXk2H6