70% of 10-Year-Olds now in Learning Poverty, Unable to Read and Understand a Simple Text

As a result of the worst shock to education and learning in recorded history, learning poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries, with an estimated 70% of 10-year-olds unable to understand a simple written text, according to a new report published today by the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, UK government Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), USAID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Global Carbon Pricing Generates Record $84 Billion in Revenue

Global carbon pricing revenue in 2021 increased by almost 60 percent from 2020 levels, to around $84 billion, providing an important source of funds to help support a sustainable economic recovery, finance broader fiscal reforms, or invest in communities as part of the low-carbon transition future, according to the World Bank’s annual “State and Trends of Carbon Pricing” report.

Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass to the Europe Institute at the University of Zurich

Within nine months of Churchill’s speech here, the World Bank made its first loan to rebuild Europe. We hope to do the same for Ukraine. Today, I also want to bring acute attention to the world’s overlapping development crises. People in developing countries are suffering from severe reversals in poverty, health, and education; from a loss of access to food, fertilizer, and fuel; and, perhaps worst of all, from inequality and significantly diminished prospects for personal advancement and growth.

World Bank Approves $2.3 Billion Program to Address Escalating Food Insecurity in Eastern and Southern Africa

The World Bank Group approved a $2.3 billion program to help countries in Eastern and Southern Africa increase the resilience of the region’s food systems and ability to tackle growing food insecurity.

Report: COVID-19 Slows Progress Toward Universal Energy Access

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a key factor in slowing progress toward universal energy access. Globally, 733 million people still have no access to electricity, and 2.4 billion people still cook using fuels detrimental to their health and the environment, according to the latest Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report.

World Bank Group Ramps Up Financing to Help Countries Amid Multiple Crises

The World Bank Group has announced that over the coming weeks it will be discussing with its Governors and Board of Executive Directors a 15-month crisis response financing package of around $170 billion to help countries address multiple overlapping crises.