Located within the Development Economics Vice Presidency, the Development Research Group is the World Bank's principal research department. With its cross-cutting expertise on a broad range of topics and countries, the department is one of the most influential centers of development research in the world.
The Development Research Group at a Glance
What's New
SYMPOSIUM Sep 29, 2025
ľ¹ÏÓ°Ôº and George Washington University are pleased to announce the inaugural?AI & The Future of Human Capital in the Global South Symposium?scheduled for Monday September 29th, 2025, in Washington, DC.?
This in-person event will bring together experts across disciplines to explore how AI-driven innovations can help address critical human development challenges in low- and middle-income countries.?
? Register to attend!
Event Sep 30, 2025
??Based on surveys of 145,000 adults across 141 economies, the new?Global Findex Database 2025: Connectivity and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy?offers the most comprehensive picture yet of how digital technologies are reshaping financial inclusion worldwide.?
On September 30, join?Leora Klapper, Founder of the Findex project, for the next Policy Research Talk,?where she will present the latest findings and discuss their implications for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners working to advance inclusive digital finance.?She will be joined by Sophie Sirtaine, CEO of CGAP, and Michel Rogy, Digital Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
RESEARCH INSIGHTS Sep 17, 2025
Across the world, women face persistent barriers to entering and thriving in the labor market.
This edition of Research Insights explores how policies and programs can expand women¡¯s economic opportunities¡ªfrom gender-targeted public works and cash transfers to childcare laws and financial inclusion.
Evidence from around the world shows that while smart policies can boost women¡¯s participation and earnings, lasting progress requires addressing social norms and unintended consequences of reforms.
WEBSITE Sep 03, 2025
The ?follows the same migrant households over time to understand how legal status shapes lives. Focused on Colombia¡¯s Permiso Especial de Permanencia (PEP), the study tracked 2,232 Venezuelan households between 2020-21.
The study shows how regularization impacts economic stability, social integration, political participation, and well-being, offering rare long-term evidence on displacement.
Explore the website to see how these insights can help policymakers, organizations, and governments to design more effective migration policies.
Latest Working Papers
Research Newsletter
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July 2025
The right combination of finance, training, structural reforms, and market integration can dramatically accelerate productivity growth for firms across low- and middle-income economies.
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April 2025
Infrastructure has the potential to accelerate development. Learn about the next-generation tools that are helping policy makers design better infrastructure policies and invest limited budgets strategically.
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July 2024
Fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) and climate change represent formidable challenges for the continent, but the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa also have opportunities to build resilience and spur equitable growth.
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Global Findex 2025
More adults in developing countries are using phones and cards to pay for goods & services. In 2024, 42% made digital merchant payments¡ªup from 35% in 2021. Explore these and other insights with the Global Findex 2025 Database. It provides almost 300 indicators on topics such as mobile phone ownership, internet use, digital safety, account ownership, payments, saving, credit, and financial resilience.
Multimedia
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Jun 04, 2025
Policy Research Talk: Strengthening African Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation
Economist Gabriel Englander presented insights on current and emerging trends in African conservation policies, and challenged pessimism regarding African conservation effectiveness.
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Apr 07, 2025
Policy Research Talk: Domestic Revenue Mobilization at a Crossroads
Economist Dario Tortarolo discussed how new data-driven approaches are reshaping how governments design and evaluate tax systems in real time, enabling informed, evidence-based decisions.
Additional Resources
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