Global Inequality

Shobha Vakade, 28, who took a loan of rupees 18,000 ($400) from a micro finance company to start her own business, strings beads into necklaces outside her house in a slum in Mumbai October 26, 2010. India's microfinance industry, which surged to prominence when George Soros-backed SKS Microfinance raised $358 million in an IPO, faces a regulatory clampdown that could erode profits and hurt growth. Reports of dozens of suicides by poor borrowers in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, the hub of India's microfinance sector, prompted the state to enact an rules against aggressive recovery practices by lenders who make loans that average about $150 to poor customers at interest rates that can top 30 percent. Picture taken October 26, 2010. To match analysis INDIA-MICROFINANCE/ REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui (INDIA - Tags: SOCIETY BUSINESS) - GM1E6AS11VO01

Up Front

Progress paradoxes in China, India, and the US: A tale of growing but unhappy countries

Carol Graham and Sergio Pinto

Saturday, October 20, 2018

A man holds up his mobile phone showing a M-Pesa mobile money transaction page for the photographer at an open air market in Kibera in Kenya's capital Nairobi December 31, 2014. Safaricom, Kenya's biggest telecoms firm, is a model of how technology can be used to financially include millions of people with mobile telephones but without access to traditional infrastructure such as the banks that are available to the wealthy or those living in cities. Safaricom in 2007 pioneered its M-Pesa mobile money transfer technology, now used across Africa, Asia and Europe. It proved that money can be made from people who earn a few dollars a day. REUTERS/Noor Khamis (KENYA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY TELECOMS) - GM1EACV1IZY01

Future Development

The future of inclusive growth

Shanta Devarajan

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Cinema-goers wearing 3D glasses watch a movie at a PVR Multiplex in Mumbai November 10, 2013. Multiplex operators like PVR Ltd, Inox Leisure, Reliance Mediaworks and Mexican chain Cinepolis are scrambling to set up theatres targeting the rapidly growing number of middle-class Indians willing to pay to watch Bollywood movies in more comfortable surroundings. The potential is huge, provided operators can find the right location in a country where prime urban real estate is costly and in short supply. Picture taken November 10, 2013. To match MULTIPLEX-INDIA/ REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui (INDIA - Tags: SOCIETY BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT) - GM1E9BK0DED01

Future Development

A global tipping point: Half the world is now middle class or wealthier

Homi Kharas and Kristofer Hamel

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Students sit in the library of the university KU Leuven "Katholieke Universiteit Leuven" in Leuven, Belgium

Future Development

Europe is aging—it’s high time to invest in youth

Christian Bodewig

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Reports

An elephant walks in Amboseli National Park in front of Kilimanjaro Mountain, Kenya, March 19, 2017. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC1DB6795A50

Global Development

What’s happening to the world income distribution? The elephant chart revisited

Homi Kharas and Brina Seidel

Monday, April 2, 2018

A baby is weighted on a scale in a health clinic in the capital Juba, South Sudan, January 23, 2017. Picture taken January 23, 2017. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola - RC157C1D0FF0

Global Health

Change of pace: Accelerations and advances during the Millennium Development Goal era

John McArthur and Krista Rasmussen

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Developing Economies

Broadening the benefits of growth

Landry Signé

Thursday, January 11, 2018

A maize plant is seen among other dried maize at a field in Hoopstad, a maize-producing district in the Free State province, South Africa, January 13, 2016. South Africa suffered its driest year on record in 2015, the national weather service said on Thursday, as a drought that has threatened the vital maize crop and hit economic growth showed no sign of abating. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko - GF20000094471

Global Development

When will things change? Looking for signs of progress on ending rural hunger

Geoffrey Gertz, Homi Kharas, John McArthur, and Lorenz Noe

Saturday, October 14, 2017

New Rohingya refugees take shelter during rain as they arrive near the Kutupalang makeshift Refugee Camp, in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, August 29, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain - RTX3DT4E

Global Governance & Politics

Democracy and human security

Ted Piccone

September 2017

Blog Posts

European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium June 20, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman - RC1198648440

Future Development

How Europe can upgrade its ‘convergence machine’ for greater equality

Christian Bodewig and Cristobal Ridao-Cano

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Inpec officers register FARC rebels before they leave El Buen Pastor prison in Bogota, Colombia January 20, 2016. Colombia's government released on Wednesday 16 of the 30 imprisoned FARC rebels the government had decided to pardon in late November. The move represents a unilateral gesture on behalf of the government, after assessing compliance with the unilateral ceasefire by The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and as a consequence in the reduction of violence as the peace deal progresses. REUTERS/Omar Nieto/high commissioner for peace /Handout via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. - GF20000102631

Future Development

Measuring the gender justice gap

Paul Prettitore and Sandie Okoro

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Gulaban, 25, mother of three, climbs into a 60-tonne truck, during a training session of the Female Dump Truck Driver Programme, held by the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), in Islamkot, Tharparkar, Pakistan September 21, 2017. Picture taken September 21, 2017. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro - RC14E23BF690

Future Development

How to boost female employment in South Asia

Martin Rama and Ana Revenga

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

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Events

2018

May

Past Event

Economic mobility across generations around the world

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM EDT

The World Bank Group’s Mission to End Extreme Poverty: A conversation with President Jim Yong Kim

2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT

Overcoming barriers: Sustainable development, productive cities, and structural transformation in Africa

9:30 AM - 11:00 AM EDT

Washington, DC

View All Events

Related Books

Declining Inequality in Latin America

Edited by Luis Felipe López-Calva and Nora Claudia Lustig

2010

View All Books

Multimedia

Zhang Yingyi, a 30-year-old administrative assistant and a mother of a three-year-old girl, smiles as she poses for a photograph at her home in Shanghai, China,

Emerging Markets

The global middle class

Homi Kharas and Fred Dews

Friday, May 19, 2017

Storm clouds hover as a cyclist rides past a field of maize after late rains near Malawi's capital Lilongwe, February 1, 2016. Late rains in Malawi threaten the staple maize crop and have pushed prices to record highs.About 14 million people face hunger in Southern Africa because of a drought that has been exacerbated by an El Nino weather pattern, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). REUTERS/Mike Hutchings - RTX24Z7D

Africa in focus

Le tonnerre n’est pas toujours suivi de la pluie : Maintenir le progrès vers la réalisation de la vision pour l’Afrique

Amadou Sy, Christina Golubski, and Amy Copley

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Africa in focus

Thunder is not yet rain: Sustaining progress towards realizing Africa’s vision

Amadou Sy, Christina Golubski, and Amy Copley

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

View All Multimedia

Global Inequality

Progress paradoxes in China, India, and the US: A tale of growing but unhappy countries

The future of inclusive growth

A global tipping point: Half the world is now middle class or wealthier

Europe is aging—it’s high time to invest in youth

Reports

What’s happening to the world income distribution? The elephant chart revisited

Change of pace: Accelerations and advances during the Millennium Development Goal era

Broadening the benefits of growth

When will things change? Looking for signs of progress on ending rural hunger

Democracy and human security

Blog Posts

How Europe can upgrade its ‘convergence machine’ for greater equality

Measuring the gender justice gap

How to boost female employment in South Asia

Events

Economic mobility across generations around the world

The World Bank Group’s Mission to End Extreme Poverty: A conversation with President Jim Yong Kim

Overcoming barriers: Sustainable development, productive cities, and structural transformation in Africa

Related Books

Declining Inequality in Latin America

Multimedia

The global middle class

Le tonnerre n’est pas toujours suivi de la pluie : Maintenir le progrès vers la réalisation de la vision pour l’Afrique

Thunder is not yet rain: Sustaining progress towards realizing Africa’s vision

More on Global Inequality

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New insights into the distribution of world income

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Globalization, technology, and inequality: It’s the policies, stupid