The End of Poverty

Despite obstacles such as conflict, corruption and high fiscal deficits in some countries, South Asia has achieved impressive economic growth and poverty reduction in the past decade, thanks mainly to economic reforms in the 1990s. If this growth accelerates to 10 percent a year, the region could see single-digit poverty rates by 2015. A closer look at the evidence suggests that much remains to be done to achieve these accelerated growth rates.

These challenges require increasing investment, productivity, and the quality of labor, while addressing the problem of lagging regions and poor service delivery. South Asia can also benefit from regional cooperation in trade, water and energy, among other things.

- Download Report (.pdf)
- Download Graphs and Tables (.pdf)

Watch the authors explain their findings and suggest policy recommendations to seize the opportunity presented by strong economic growth.

Shantayanan Devarajan, World Bank Chief Economist, South Asia Region
- Full interview with author on report findings (9m:48s) Real | Windows
- What does the report show about the growth rates in the region? (23s) Real | Windows
- What kind of growth levels are needed to reduce poverty? (18s) Real | Windows
- Can we expect poverty to come down in a uniform manner? (23s) Real | Windows
- What are some measures to ensure growth is more widely shared? (28s) Real | Windows
- How do the growth rates in South Asia compare to East Asia? (49s) Real | Windows
- Challenges to growth in Bangladesh (1m:15s) Real | Windows
- Challenges to growth in India (1m:23s) Real | Windows
- Challenges to growth in Nepal (16s) Real | Windows
- Challenges to sustained growth in Pakistan (25s) Real | Windows
- Challenges to growth in Sri Lanka (36s) Real | Windows

Ijaz Nabi, World Bank Sector Manager, South Asia Region
- Full interview with author on report findings (7m) mp3 audio