World Bank Report Highlights Disparities in Digital Adoption, Environmental Sustainability, and Gender Equality in Developing Countries
In its December 2024 report, "B-Ready," the World Bank analyzes cross-cutting data from three themes that significantly influence the business climate in developing countries: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender equality.
1. Digital Adoption
The report reveals evident disparities between developing countries in terms of digital adoption, which affects the digitization of public services. Certain services, such as administrative platforms, still have significant potential for digitalization.
A key finding of the report is that the adoption of digital services corresponds to high-income countries. For instance, electronic payments are more widely adopted in high-income countries. However, the report emphasizes that digitization is within reach for all countries.
2. Environmental Sustainability
The adoption of environmentally friendly practices is struggling to take hold in developing countries, according to the report. For example, while almost all countries where the World Bank collected data have adopted national environmental regulations, eco-friendly construction still suffers from a lack of incentives.
3. Gender Equality
The report notes that collecting data on gender disparities was challenging due to a lack of transparency or complete absence of data. However, it highlights that support is being provided to women entrepreneurs in developing countries through incubators and accelerators.
Despite this, parity regulations remain non-existent, and much work remains to be done to address the disparities between men and women.
