Ukraine has substantially reduced its poverty rates, while the ongoing political crisis in the country has had a limited impact on the economy, two senior officials at the World Bank said Tuesday during a presentation of the bank's quarterly report.

Rapid economic growth has spurred progress in the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger in Asia, where the proportion of people living on a dollar a day has been cut by half, but inequality is also growing in parts of the region, says a United Nations report released today in Bangkok.

On 28 June the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit[1]of US$40 million to support Benin’s poverty reduction strategy.

Poor Countries Catching up with Rich Nations in Cancers, Diabetes, Heart Disease and Other Chronic Illnesses

More than half of humanity – 3.3 billion people – will be living in cities by 2008 and by 2030, some 5 billion will live there, according to a U.N. report set to be released Wednesday.

World Bank Approves US$600 Million for Government of India to Revitalize Financial Access for Poorest Farmers

As World Bank Board Approves Landmark Assistance Strategy and Two New Projects
The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank in June 22nd discussed its new Country Program for Ghana, representing US$1.3 billion for new operations based on the Ghana Joint Assistance Strategy (G-JAS) signed by 16 partners.

Over one in 10 British families have gone without medicine (11 per cent) or food (10 per cent) because they didn't have enough money, according to a survey released on Wednesday, 13th June by leading children's charity NCH and Barclays.

Tackling global poverty requires a concerted effort by governments of developed and developing countries supported by the private sector, civic groups, the media and other players on the international scene, United Nations General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa has told a gathering on financing for development in Doha.

The World Bank said on May 31st it is taking a step forward to try to limit the damage of the so-called vulture funds on heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs), and announced the extension of its Debt Reduction Facility for another five years to help such countries reduce the commercial debts they owe.

Leading global experts provide insight into protecting public health and promoting health equity in urban settings in a supplement to the May/June 2007 issue of The New York Academy of Medicine's Journal of Urban Health. The 15 reports in the supplement were issued by the Knowledge Network on Urban Settings of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, regrets at giving independence to Kosovo, the province in the South that is cherished by Serbians as their historical heartland.