The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
Africa’s progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the aspirations, goals, and targets of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 has been uneven, with significant differences among sub regions, countries, and rural and urban areas. The latest Africa Sustainable Development report calls for accelerated efforts to ensure that Africa achieves …
Considering the importance of availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) launched Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017. The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold: to estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (viz. Worker Population Ratio, Labour Force Participation …
UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report 2023 warns that the global economy is stalling, with growth slowing in most regions compared with last year and only a few countries bucking the trend. It says the global economy is at a crossroads, where divergent growth paths, widening inequalities, growing market concentration and …
Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to slow to 2.5 percent in 2023 from 3.6 percent in 2022. It is projected to increase to 3.7 percent in 2024 and 4.1 percent in 2025. However, in per capita terms, the region is projected to slightly contract over 2015-2025. The region faces …
India continues to show resilience against the backdrop of a challenging global environment, according to World Bank’s latest India Development Update (IDU). The IDU, the Bank’s flagship half yearly report on the Indian economy, observes that despite significant global challenges, India was one of the fastest-growing major economies in FY22/23 …
At just under 6 percent, South Asia is expected to grow faster than any other developing country region this year—but slower than its pre-pandemic pace and not fast enough to meet its development goals. The region faces many risks to this outlook, including due to fragile fiscal positions created by …
In this biennial report, the fifth within ESCAP’s Financing for Development series, examine the trends, challenges, and opportunities for policymakers, regulators, and private finance (banks, issuers, and investors) in Asia and the Pacific to mobilize and deploy sustainable finance, particularly for climate action. Then put forward ten principles for action …
The 2023 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) takes the pulse of global innovation trends against the background of an economic environment fraught with uncertainty. It reveals the ranking of this year’s most innovative economies in the world amongst 132 economies and localizes the top 100 science and technology …
This paper projects the nationwide and state-wise size of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) market under various GDP growth scenarios. The market sizes under these scenarios are expressed in monetary values at the scale of both sub-national units and the Indian economy as a whole. With the help of transactions …
This report presents the latest analysis of data available on SDG 16 indicators. The data reflects that human rights commitments are not being met, violence is increasing, inequality continues to hinder inclusive decision making and corruption erodes the social contract. The report is the first of its kind jointly produced …
India has significantly expanded the share of workers with regular wages, narrowed caste-based segregation and reduced gender-based disparities in the workforce from the 1980s while challenges remain, said ‘State of Working India 2023’, a report released by Azim Premji University. The report draws on evidence from official data sources and …
The economic outlook for Asia and the Pacific remains upbeat, with the region’s developing economies expected to grow 4.7% in 2023, and 4.8% in 2024, but risks remain elevated. According to the latest edition of the Asian Development Outlook, growth will remain resilient, supported by domestic demand, recovering tourism, and …
Ahead of the 2023 SDG Summit and of the 2024 Antigua and Barbuda fourth International Conference on SIDS, the 2023 Sustainable Development Report for SIDS presents for the first time a special edition of the SDG Index to assess where SIDS stand in terms of SDG progress. It also introduces …
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – the ability of microbes to resist antimicrobials – remains an alarming global health threat. This is despite the efforts made by OECD and EU/EEA countries to curtail it. Unless additional effective interventions are scaled up quickly, AMR rates are forecasted to increase in the next three …
"Times of Crisis, Times of Change: Science for Accelerating Transformations to Sustainable Development", the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), finds that at this critical juncture, midway to 2030, incremental and fragmented change is insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the remaining seven years. Implementation of the …
The five United Nations regional commissions have prepared selected country profiles on “SDG Progress and Transformative Pathways” to support discussions among member States, various United Nations entities, and other development partners during the SDG Summit on 18-19 September 2023. The following key messages reflect shared global progress as well as …
SDG 8 integrates the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. To achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth for full employment and decent work, an integrated process is needed to drive balanced progress across these three dimensions. In its 2019 report Time to Act for SDG 8: Integrating Decent …
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has had a transformative impact on India, extending far beyond inclusive finance. The G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion document prepared by World Bank has lauded transformative impact of DPIs in India over the past decade under the Central Government. The document highlights the groundbreaking measures …
This study proposes an actionable framework to guide government stakeholders (state or national) that are either at the ideation stage or the early stages of implementing Urban Employment Programmes (UEPs) in India. It analyses the local and global experiences of UEPs pertaining to jurisdictional forms, eligibility criteria, portability, gendered implications, …
The increased cost-of-living crisis sparked by surging inflation last year, combined with the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, is continuing to push people in Asia and the Pacific into extreme poverty, according to this new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). An estimated 155.2 million people in developing …
