Economics & Development

Human capital - people’s knowledge, skills, and health - drives productivity and growth. The Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) measures the human capital a child born today can expect to accumulate over their working life, extending the original HCI by incorporating tertiary education and work experience. This brief summarizes Nicaragua’s HCI+ score and its performance in building human capital.

Human capital - people’s knowledge, skills, and health - drives productivity and growth. The Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) measures the human capital a child born today can expect to accumulate over their working life, extending the original HCI by incorporating tertiary education and work experience. This brief summarizes Honduras’s HCI+ score and its performance in building human capital.

Human capital - people’s knowledge, skills, and health - drives productivity and growth. The Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) measures the human capital a child born today can expect to accumulate over their working life, extending the original HCI by incorporating tertiary education and work experience. This brief summarizes Chile HCI+ score and its performance in building human capital.

Human capital - people’s knowledge, skills, and health - drives productivity and growth. The Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) measures the human capital a child born today can expect to accumulate over their working life, extending the original HCI by incorporating tertiary education and work experience. This brief summarizes Kazakhstan’s HCI+ score and its performance in building human capital.

Human capital - people’s knowledge, skills, and health - drives productivity and growth. The Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) measures the human capital a child born today can expect to accumulate over their working life, extending the original HCI by incorporating tertiary education and work experience. This brief summarizes Denmark’s HCI+ score and its performance in building human capital.

The Scan Guide is a practical tool to support the analysis of the policy and regulatory dimensions of four aspects of a country’s national food system: food safety, food fortification, food loss and waste, livestock production (animal welfare and use of antibiotics). The Scan Guide provides a structured list of assessment questions across these four areas, enabling users to identify challenges and opportunities for transformation. It supports experts from both public and private sectors in evaluating policy frameworks, regulatory management, institutional capacity, and capacity-building needs in countries where interventions are planned or improvements are required. By helping users identify where to direct support and design targeted investments, the Scan Guide aims to strengthen national, regional, and global food safety systems by increasing efficiency in consumer protection, improving food safety standards, and supporting a sustainable food industry. The Scan Guide incorporates years of experience of World Bank Group specialists working across diverse regions and contexts. The Scan Guide has proven to be an efficient and practical tool widely used by everyone who is involved in developing, maintaining, or improving national food systems.

Access to smartphones significantly shapes digital service use in low- and middle-income countries, but access alone is insufficient for inclusion. Using data from 71 countries, the study finds that smartphone ownership increases the likelihood of using digital services such as learning, government services, and job search by 34 percentage points. Expanding ownership could connect millions more, especially in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. However, gender gaps persist due to barriers like affordability, digital skills, and social norms. Even with universal ownership, many women remain excluded. Effective digital inclusion requires complementary policies addressing skills, affordability, and gender-specific constraints alongside device access.

Human capital- people’s knowledge, skills, and health- drives productivity and growth. The Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) measures the human capital a child born today can expect to accumulate over their working life, extending the original HCI by incorporating tertiary education and work experience. This brief summarizes Zimbabwe’s HCI+ score and its performance in building human capital