Accelerating Change to Solve the Water Crisis

As the world’s largest multilateral source of financing for water in developing countries, the World Bank Group is committed to innovative, inclusive, and sustainable water action as we work together with our partners towards a water-secure world.

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WORLD BANK AND WATER

Water Matters: It's Time for Action in Latin America and the Caribbean

Millions of Latin Americans still suffer from water insecurity. Today, 150 million people live in highly water-scarce areas, and climate change is worsening this outlook. According to the World Bank, over the last two decades, Latin America has experienced 74 droughts, causing more than US$ 13 billion in damage. This phenomenon impacts agricultural and livestock production and farmers’ livelihoods, especially those living in vulnerable conditions.

April 2023 Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable

Time for Meaningful Debt Restructuring

Ahead of the next meeting of the Sovereign Debt Roundtable on April 12, World Bank Group President David Malpass shares an update on recent developments and reiterates his call for prompt action toward debt sustainability for debt distressed countries.

Food Security

Latest Food Security Update

Our latest update from March 9 shows that domestic food price inflation remains high around the world, with inflation levels above 5% in 94.1% of low-income countries, 86% of lower-middle-income countries, and 87.0% of upper-middle-income countries and many experiencing double-digit inflation. The countries affected most are in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.

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Food security is defined when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

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Joint Statement by the Heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization, International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Food Programme and World Trade Organization on the Global Food and Nutrition Security Crisis
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More than half of all reforms captured were implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa region by seven economies

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In 2022, the global average score on the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law index rose just half a point to 77.1—indicating women, on average, enjoy barely 77 percent of the legal rights that men do. At the current pace of reform, in many countries a woman entering the workforce today will retire before she will be able to gain the same rights as men, the report notes. This year, 18 countries enacted 34 reforms, the lowest number of reforms in 20 years. But more than half of all reforms captured were implemented in the Sub-Saharan Africa region by seven economies. Learn More.

Globally, roughly half of working age women participate in the labor force, which is significantly lower than the male labor force participation rate of around 80%. This gap is virtually unchanged from what it was three decades ago. And there are sizeable differences in the level of female labor force participation across regions. Moreover, women tend to face inferior income opportunities and on average earn less than men. Explore more aspects of female labor force participation through this data story.

According to the latest statistics (see below), more than one in five women were first married before the age of 18, with the practice of child marriage being most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Beyond being a human rights violation, child marriage also greatly undermines women’s and girls’ economic opportunities. It limits child brides’ access to education, reduces their future earnings, jeopardizes their health, and puts them at a heightened risk of domestic violence. Data on the economic impacts of child marriage provide the foundation for advocacy campaigns to end the practice. Learn more.