Cities can create jobs, go green, and become more affordable — at the same time Prashant KapoorOluwaseun Olowoporoku July 22, 2026 This page in: English

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/sustainablecities/cities-can-create-jobs-go-green-and-become-more-affordable-at-th The average family in Ibadan, one of Nigeria's largest cities, spends nearly half its income not on food, rent, or school fees — but on surviving a broken infrastructure system. Buying water from street vendors costs them ten times more than if their home was serviced with piped water. Running a generator to make up for frequent power outages eats further into their budget. Paying unregulated minibus fares to get around drives up their costs even more.

From loss to resilience in Nigeria: turning a growing agricultural challenge into action Mohammad Abul AzadKevin McGeeOlaide Asimiyu Akin-Olagunju July 22, 2026 This page in: English

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/from-loss-to-resilience-in-nigeria--turning-a-growing-agricultur Nigeria is Africa's largest agricultural economy, accounting for a quarter of national GDP and employing over one third of the labor force. Its vast agro-ecological diversity supports a wide range of staple crops, from cassava and yam in the south to maize and cowpea in the north. Yet beneath aggregate production figures lies a growing and under-recognized challenge: while total crop failures have remained relatively stable, partial crop losses (harvests damaged or reduced but not destroyed) have more than tripled over the past five years.

Reimagining productive lives beyond homelessness Paula EscobarLuz Stella Rodriguez-NovoaPhillippe LeiteRaquel Tsukada July 22, 2026 This page in: English Español Portuguese

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/latinamerica/social-protection-pathways-beyond-homelessness Homelessness has surged globally, driven by socioeconomic shocks such as the COVID‑19 pandemic, internal and external migration, rising housing unaffordability, and unequal labor markets. While its scale and manifestations vary across countries and regions, homelessness has become a shared challenge across cities and metropolitan areas worldwide—placing growing pressure on already fiscally constrained public systems with competing spending priorities.

Why better education and health outcomes start with getting the basics right Lars SondergaardLung VuTessa Clare Cullen July 22, 2026 This page in: English

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/governance/better-education-health-outcomes-starts-good-governance More Cambodian children are in school than ever, and more patients walk into a clinic and leave satisfied. Net primary school enrollment in Cambodia has reached 97 percent while life expectancy has climbed past 70 years and patient satisfaction sits at 94 percent. Yet, the average Grade 6 student can only answer less than half a basic math exam, and only a small share of health centers offer the full set of services they are meant to provide. Access has raced ahead but outcomes have not kept up.

The New Global Advisory Panel on Skills Will Identify What Works to Raise Incomes and Reduce Poverty Christian BodewigIffath SharifMarkus Goldstein July 22, 2026 This page in: English

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/investinpeople/global-skills-panel-to-boost-incomes-and-reduce-poverty What is the Global Advisory Panel on Skills (GAPS) trying to answer? Many people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) lack the right skills for today's jobs, and too few have the enabling environment to put those skills to use. This gap will widen as climate change and rapid advances in digital technology and AI transform tomorrow’s jobs. The stakes are enormous. Over the next decade, 1.2 billion young people will enter the labor force, most without strong foundational skills, credentials, or support to help them succeed.

Measuring multidimensional poverty in countries with incomplete data Ben BrunckhorstMinh Cong NguyenNishant YonzanHai-Anh H. DangChristoph Lakner July 23, 2026 This page in: English

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/measuring-multidimensional-poverty-in-countries-with-incomplete- Multidimensional poverty measures offer a more complete picture of poverty than monetary measures alone, yet their adoption has been limited by fragmented data. For instance, for the most recent year, the World Bank’s Multidimensional Poverty Measure (MPM) can be estimated for only two-thirds of the world despite individual indicators covering at least 85% of the global population. This is because these indicators are scattered across different datasets, which complicates measurement and carries real policy costs, as our companion blog highlights.

Beyond the dashboard: The high cost of fragmented poverty data Ben BrunckhorstMinh Cong NguyenNishant YonzanSotaire Kwizera July 23, 2026 This page in: English

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/beyond-the-dashboard--the-high-cost-of-fragmented-poverty-data Poverty is multidimensional, but measuring it that way is not easy. Data on some dimensions may not be collected in the first place due to budget constraints, conflict, or other barriers with no immediate solution. Or the data may exist but are fragmented across several datasets that are difficult to combine. For instance, we can estimate the share of low-income households from one dataset, those lacking basic infrastructure from another, and those with low education from a third – yet no single source captures all three dimensions together, making it difficult to know how deprivations overlap. This fragmentation is not just a technical inconvenience, it shapes what governments see, and therefore what they act on. Fragmented data leads to fragmented policies.