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World Development Indicators 2014
Report

World Development Indicators 2014

The World Bank
World Bank, 2014
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Analytical
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

The World Bank worked in partnership with supranational institutions and more than 200 statistical bureaus around the world to produce this quantitative report on the world’s progress toward reaching the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Readers will need a wide-angle lens to appreciate the true daring of the World Bank’s mandate to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030 and to foster “shared prosperity.” The report has considerable breadth and depth, so read it closely; often the most hopeful data lie buried in seemingly mundane measures. For example, the number of people traveling by air on carriers in East Asia and the Pacific nearly doubled between 2002 and 2012, now rivaling air travel in North America. That is cause for some optimism. getAbstract recommends this comprehensive but statistics-laden report to policy makers, economists, officials at nongovernmental organizations and corporate officers who want a data-centric look at economic development.

Summary

Six Categories of Development

While the World Bank is a development-oriented institution capable of responding to global economic emergencies, its fundamental goals are to “end extreme poverty” – defined by the number of people living on less than $1.25 per day – and to foster “shared prosperity” – judged by the income growth of the bottom 40% of populations. As part of the monitoring process toward those objectives, the World Bank developed a database of indicators organized into the following six distinct categories:

1. “World View”

The World Bank Group works to help achieve the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), targeted for attainment by 2015:

  • “Eradicate extreme poverty” – Though it is still widespread, extreme poverty was cut in half between 1990 and 2010.
  • “Achieve universal primary education” – Most developing nations have reached close to 90% of this goal.
  • “Promote gender equality and empower women” – That starts with educating girls: In developing countries, by 2011, girls’ primary school enrollment rates had reached 97% of boys’ enrollment rates, and their secondary school enrollment...

About the Author

The World Bank provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries.

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