International Day of Education 2026: Education Works

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Education is the foundation to skills development and jobs, and the surest way out of poverty, empowering generations to earn an income and drive economic growth. A good education equips learners with key foundational skills—literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional competencies—which are essential for work and life. These skills help today’s children become tomorrow’s productive workers and enable workers to reskill or upskill later in life. The World Bank Group is the largest financier of education in the developing world, with a $26.4 billion portfolio across 81 countries, supporting 324 million students to date with better education.

On this International Day of Education, we look at why education works, and how it helps propel people out of poverty, putting economies on a path to growth.

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Global economic resilience masks an uneven growth outlook

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First, the good news: in the face of one shock after another, the global economy has proved to be surprisingly shock-proof since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite steep tariff increases and historically high policy uncertainty during the last 12 months, global GDP growth in 2025 is set to come in at 2.7 percent—the pace that was predicted in January 2025. That rate should hold roughly steady through 2027. Inflation is abating. Interest rates are coming down. Investors are again showing signs of exuberance. At least by one measure, the global recovery from the coronavirus-era recession will go down as the strongest in six decades: global GDP per person in 2025 was 10 percent higher than it was on the eve of the pandemic. Subsequent shocks—wars, inflation, and tariffs—did less damage than most economists feared.

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A century and a half of oil supply management: OPEC’s endurance in a changing energy world

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This blog — the second in a three-part series — summarizes key findings from the Focus section of the October 2025 edition of the Commodity Markets Outlook, a flagship report of the World Bank, which dealt with the long history of International Commodity Agreements. The first blog: New shocks, old tools: Revisiting international commodity agreements in a fragmented world.

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Making AI Work for All: You Ask, We Answer

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You are receiving this email because you signed up for our World Bank Live Updates. We want to let you know that we have a new event coming up.   February 11, 2026   <a href="https://t.newsletterext.worldbank.org/r/?id=h2b08fbb1,eee1fdd,ef262e4&e=cDE9PGIgc3R5bGU9J2NvbG9yOg&s=moq4BV9sf59jrkGzm1tQd27yflhKkjicSn9DILXeFME#004370;font-size:16px;'>Making AI Work for All: You Ask, We Answer Making AI Work for All: You Ask, We Answer   Location: Online   What is small AI, and how can it help developing countries tackle real-world challenges? In this live Q&A, two World Bank Group experts, Johan Bjurman Bergman and Lana Graf, will discuss how practical, affordable, and adaptable AI tools are improving health, agriculture, education, service delivery, and support for small businesses.
  Submit your questions in advance to learn how governments are expanding access to AI foundations—skills, data, and computing infrastructure—and why partnerships with the private sector matter for scaling solutions.
  Sign up for an event reminder and join us live. Experts will answer questions in the chat during the session. World Bank Live Development Events Brought to You Live

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REPLAY – Ajay Banga at the World Economic Forum

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EVENT REPLAY   A Coming Jobs Challenge in Emerging Markets?   When: January 21, 2026 – Location: World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland
With 1.2 billion new workers set to compete for just 400 million jobs in emerging economies over the next decade, closing the gap will require more than expanded skills training. At the World Economic Forum, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga sat down with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to discuss how countries can adapt to a rapidly changing world of work. The conversation was followed by a brief panel with the Ministers of Nigeria and Sri Lanka, alongside business leaders from Infosys and Petronas, exploring alternative employment models, entrepreneurship, and what it will take to tackle the looming global jobs crisis.   

VIDEO

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Introducing the World Bank Land Data Map

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From urbanization to agriculture, land systems touch nearly every aspect of development. That’s why the World Bank Group has launched the Land Data Map, a new interactive platform designed to make land data more accessible, interactive, and practical.

Built for policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and communities alike, this new tool offers a fresh way to engage with land data — and demonstrates how data-driven insights can help improve development outcomes across sectors.

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When the cloud meets a thirsty world

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Throughout history, water has been the quiet engine behind progress: farmers irrigate fields to grow crops; industry needs it to produce goods and generate energy; and people, communities and cities draw on it for drinking, sanitation, and public health. Technology also made it possible to reach deeper aquifers and more distant rivers, expanding water use and exposing fundamental tensions in how water is valued and distributed, and who bears the costs. 

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Unlocking Guinea’s agriculture development: creating jobs for inclusive growth

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Agriculture employs 52% of Guinea’s workforce, yet formal farming is negligible, underscoring a core gap in processing investment, where most value and jobs can be created.
  • Five years ago, Bassam planned to invest in a beer factory. But a pivotal moment redirected his vision toward agriculture. Today, that vision has grown into a thriving agribusiness, cultivating over 1,000 hectares and providing jobs for nearly 300 people across 27 villages.
  • Through sustained investment and partnerships, Guinea is transforming its agricultural sector, driving inclusive growth and creating jobs. As one of 23 Agri Connect Compact countries, it now has a unique chance to accelerate this transformation and boost value addition.
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Closing the digital gap can unlock jobs and reduce poverty

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Jobs are the surest way to end poverty and give people hope for a better future. That’s why countries need to build economies that unlock opportunities for people and convert growth into local jobs.

Yet household survey data across dozens of countries reveal a stubborn obstacle: the world’s poorest people remain disconnected from the digital tools that now underpin labor markets, agricultural productivity, and economic mobility. Digital technologies cannot reduce poverty if they bypass the people who need them the most.

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India: World Bank Approves Three Projects in Assam State to Increase Access to Markets, Jobs and Services

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2026 —The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved three projects to help the Indian state of Assam increase resilience to extreme weather events, improve governance and service delivery, and provide more than 4 million students with the skills they need to succeed in the workforce.  

Assam, located in India’s northeast, is uniquely positioned as the gateway to Southeast Asia, offering strategic connectivity for regional trade and integration. At the same time, Assam faces challenges such as climate vulnerability, inadequate infrastructure, and multidimensional poverty, which hinder inclusive growth.

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