Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity:? Starting a business?
Cities currently account for about two-thirds of the world’s annual energy consumption and about 70 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the coming decades, urbanization and income growth in
Light Manufacturing in Tanzania argues that for Tanzania to remain one of the fastest growing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, it has to make progress in the structural transformation that can lift wo
As part of its strategy to support global trade, the World Bank Group seeks to enhance trade finance in emerging markets. In 2005 the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the Bank Group, i
Factually, the principal finding of this book is that the trade policy reforms introduced by Peru in the 1990s have continued over several changes of president, whereas similar reforms in Argentina ha
Sri Lanka achieved middle-income-country status in January 2010, on the strenght of of the economic growth fueled by the liberalization policy introduced in the late 1970s and pursued albeit unevenly
Nowhere is the need to generate employment more urgent than in the fragile states of Sub-Saharan Africa.In this region, where the majority of the labor force still works in agriculture, the potential
Income and asset disclosure systems (IAD) are gaining prominence as a tool in the fight against corruption, and have the potential to support efforts in both prevention and enforcement. They are inten
Fifty years ago, health outcomes in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia were not far behind those in Western Europe and well ahead of most other regions of the world. But progress since
This book was undertaken at a pivotal time in the region. The weak summer monsoon in 2009 created drought conditions throughout Pakistan. This followed an already tenuous situation for many rural hous
Road freight transport plays an indispensable role in international economic cooperation and foreign trade. For short and medium distances in particular, road freight transport constitutes a predomina
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, when thousands of young women and men fought for the opportunity to realize their aspirations and potential, the question of jobs continues to be crucial in the Mi
The Little Data Book on Gender 2013 is a quick reference for users interested in gender statistics. It presents gender-disaggregated data for more than 200 countries in a straightforward, country-by-c
Disaster risk management is essential in the fight against poverty. Disasters can, in an instant, wipe out decades of hard-fought poverty reduction and development gains and push countless households
This publication aims to assist countries in understanding the specific challenges and opportunities posed by climate change in the agricultural sector in order to increase climate resilience and adap
Agriculture is one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In many countries, such as the fourexamined in Looking Beyond the Horizon, the risks of climate change are an immediate and fu
This book takes both a global as well as a local perspective in assessing the impacts of climate change on the economy, agricultural sector, and households in three of the MENA countries; Syria, Tunis
This book provides an assessment of climate risks, opportunities and possible actions in Tunisia. It recognizes that the Tunisian revolution of January 14th 2011 has created significant change in Tuni
The Little Data Book on Gender in Africa 2012/13 provides a summary collection of gender statistics on Africa available in one volume. It contains 60 indicators, covering 53 African countries. Additi
In the last two decades, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has closed many critical gender gaps, especially in ensuring equal access for girls and boys to education and healthcare. Today,
Energy efficiency is an important factor in an economy, since it helps meet energy needs, decrease costs, and lower environmental impacts. A review of the evolution of energy intensity in European and
'Transforming Cities with Transit' explores the complex process of transit and land-use integration in rapidly growing cities in developing countries. As one of the most promising strategies for advan
Reliable evidence on the results of investments at the community level is in short supply. While communities have played a large role in the HIV/AIDS response, their contributions and innovative appro
People who inject drugs (PWID) are at higher risk for acquiring HIV infection than the general population in many countries. Injecting drug use is present in 148 countries including a wide array of lo
China should complete its transition to a market economy through enterprise, land, labor, and financial sector reforms, strengthen its private sector, open its markets to greater competition and innov
The use of matching contributions to enhance the participation and level of savings in pensions system has now been in use for nearly three decades in a number of high income countries. Increasingly,
The gradual acceleration of growth in developing countries is a defining feature of the past two decades. This acceleration came with major shifts in patterns of investment, saving, and capital flows.
This book was produced to support the policy dialogue on Human Resources for Health (HRH) in Ghana. Despite some recent successes, further improvements in health outcomes are in part hampered by the l
For the past two decades, experiments in decentralization and federalization havebeen developing in Africa, Asia, and the formerly communist states of EasternEurope. Many of the powers previously in t
Insurance plays a positive role in economic develoment, but some of its traditional products are inhibiting in some cultural settings. This book explains the development of a hybrid model. Takaful (w
While economic growth has been sustained for a number of years in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, this has not resulted in the creation of an adequate number of jobs
The objective of this study is to assist public authorities to identify and address the future challenges of urban water supply, sanitation, and flood management in cities. In order to do that, this r
This study assesses the potential for job creation through infrastructure investment in the Middle East and North Africa. The region has experience in making the most of infrastructure investments, bu
Nonfinancial Defined Contribution (NDC) schemes are now in their teens. The new pension concept was born in the early 1990s, implemented from the mid-1990s in Italy, Latvia, Poland and Sweden, legisl
Becoming a middle-income economy is an explicit development goal of many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This book assesses the implications of that goal for secondary education in Ethiopia. It shows
Tenth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2013 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity:? Starting a business? Dea
In a world where half of the population lives in cities and more than 90 percent of urban growth is occurring in the developing world, cities struggle to modernize without completely losing their uniq
MENA is one of the richest regions in the world in terms of natural resources: it holds more than 60 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, mostly located in the Gulf region, and nearly half of g
How does the social and political context in which decision-makers find themselves in affect their ability to realize their reform goals? How does this context facilitate or inhibit specific reform ag
The importance of property rights in providing the incentive to invest, work hard, and innovate has been recognized for centuries. Yet, many women in Africa do not have the same property rights or fo
