2024 Key Development Challenges in Nine Charts

world-bank:content-type/news

2024 Key Development Challenges in Nine Charts

Discover the most pressing issues countries faced this year, and how we're working to overcome them.

Read the Story

Watch the WBG Youth Summit Pitch Competition Launch

world-bank:content-type/event

Watch the WBG Youth Summit Pitch Competition Launch

The Balancing Act for AI Governance

world-bank:content-type/blog

The Balancing Act for AI Governance

The Development Podcast: 2024 in Review

world-bank:content-type/podcast

The Development Podcast: 2024 in Review

teaserBlurb

Together we can create a  world free of poverty on a livable planet

teaserStyle

video

videoReference

videoBehavior

autoplay

imageRef

alt

my image alt text

btn-text

About Us

btn-link

Data for Development

Essential data to guide decisions, monitor progress, and evaluate impact.

See More Data

world-bank:category/prosperity

20 of 26

countries could  remain poor, not progressing to middle-income status, through 2050 without course correction.

Source: World Bank (2025), Global Economic Prospects

world-bank:category/infrastructure

80+ percent

of the global population without access to electricity lives in Sub-Saharan Africa.

World Bank (2024), Tracking SDG7

world-bank:category/planet

2.2 billion

people around the world lack access to safely managed drinking water services.

Source: World Bank Group (2024), Water for Shared Prosperity

world-bank:category/people

400 million

students have experienced school closures from extreme weather since 2022.

Source: World Bank (2024), Choosing Our Future: Education for Climate Action

RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS

More Research & Publications

World Bank Group Annual Report 2024

World Bank Group Annual Report 2024

Responding to intertwined challenges and becoming a faster, simpler, and more efficient World Bank Group.

Read Full Report

International Debt Report 2024

International Debt Report 2024

Developing countries faced record debt costs as their interest payments climbed to a 20-year high in 2023.

Read Full Report

Transforming Knowledge
Transforming Lives

Capacity development and training for next-generation leaders

Explore the Knowledge Academy

Search More Courses

Transforming Knowledge