Dag Hammarskjöld Library at Uppsala University
World Bank Group
- © United Nations
World Bank Group, headquartered in Washington, DC, consists of five closely associated institutions:
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD);
- International Development Association (IDA);
- International Finance Corporation (IFC);
- Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA);
- International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
The World Bank Group provides loans, technical assistance and policy advice to countries for the purpose of reducing poverty, improving living standards, and safeguarding international investment.
Documentation
The World Bank Group official web site serves as a web portal to the institutions associated with the Group.
The World Bank official web site provides background information, news and statistics, major topic areas, a survey of projects and operations, full text documents and reports and access to relevant databases.
World Development Report, published every year, is a survey of the economic and social state of the world with statistical tables and in-depth analyses of specific aspects of development. A review of the reports for the years 1995-2005 is posted at the World Bank official web site, section Synopsis of WDRs (1995-2005). Full text reports from 1978- can be accessed through The Complete World Development Report Online.
The World Bank Annual Report is posted at the World Bank official web site from 1996 onwards.
Global Development Finance reviews recent trends in financial flows to developing countries. It can be accessed from the World Bank official web site from 1999 onwards.
The World Bank Research Observer seeks to inform nonspecialist readers about research being undertaken within the Bank and outside the Bank in areas of economics relevant for development policy.
World Bank Economic Review is a scholarly economic journal specializing in quantitative development policy analysis.
Global Economic Prospects and the Developing Countries deals with issues that are central challenges facing developing countries.
A summary of the work of the World Bank Group for a given year with references to essential documents can be accessed through the Yearbook of the United Nations, Part Six: Intergovernmental Organizations to the United Nations. A complete collection of yearbooks is held by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala, and the Liibraries at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva. Since October 2008 the complete full text collection of The United Nations Yearbooks is available online at ttp://unyearbook.un.org/.
Databases and Indexes
Global Development Finance focuses on financial flows, trends in external debt, and other major financial indicators for developing countries.
World Bank Open Data offers free access to more than 2,000 financial, business, health, economic and human development statistics.
The World Bank official web site provides access to a number of specialized databases:
- HNP STATS provides standardized data and statistics for health, nutrition and population at national, regional and global levels.
- GenderStats includes national statistics, United Nations databases and World Bank funded surveys.
- EdStats compiles educational statistics from international and national sources.
- World Bank eAtlas of the Millennium Development Goals comprises a collection of data and strategies for the achievement of the goals set up by the UN Millennium Declaration.