Thought leadership on the data behind the goals.

News · September 21, 2026

Ending extreme poverty would cost 0.28% of global GDP — NBER working paper built on World Poverty Clock data

New NBER research estimates that direct transfers could lift nearly everyone above the $2.15-a-day line for about $211 billion a year — 19% of the cost of universal basic income — using poverty data from World Data Lab's World Poverty Clock.

Read the working paper →

Africa's youth employment paradox: More educated but not employed?

Blog · September 2, 2026

Africa's youth employment paradox: More educated but not employed?

Africa's youth population is expanding by about 217 million between 2025 and 2040 and becoming more educated, yet job creation is not keeping pace, leaving millions of young people educated but unemployed.

Middle Class Growth and Financial Health in ASEAN: A focus on Indonesia & Vietnam

Blog · September 2026

Middle Class Growth and Financial Health in ASEAN: A focus on Indonesia & Vietnam

ASEAN's next middle-class wave will be shaped by Indonesia and Vietnam, two large markets with very different financial health profiles.

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An uneven boom: Tracking the varied trajectories of Africa's future youth labor markets

Blog · August 4, 2026

An uneven boom: Tracking the varied trajectories of Africa's future youth labor markets

Africa will add over 200 million young people by 2040 — but just ten countries will generate nearly two thirds of that growth. New projections from the Africa Youth Employment Clock show exactly where the pressure to create jobs will be greatest.

ASEAN Insights: Middle Class Growth and Financial Health

Blog · May 18, 2026

ASEAN Insights: Middle Class Growth and Financial Health

ASEAN's middle class is already one of the world's most important growth stories, with 393 million people today and a further 117 million expected by 2036.

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Mexico Insights: Middle Class Growth and Financial Health

Full webinar · Apr 10, 2026

Blog · May 2026

Mexico Insights: Middle Class Growth and Financial Health

Mexico is the second-largest middle-class market in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 74 million middle-class consumers and a distinct financial health challenge.

Download brief →

Full webinar

Africa Youth Employment Outlook 2026 — Full Webinar

The full recording of the Africa Youth Employment Outlook 2026 launch — World Data Lab, the Mastercard Foundation, and the Development Policy Research Unit present the latest data and projections on youth jobs across the continent.

Watch full webinar →

Africa's Digital Divide — Unlocking Economic Potential

Africa's Digital Divide — Unlocking Economic Potential

Africa lags in the digital space, lacking internet access and tools for entrepreneurs. We explore how digitization can power small businesses, finance, communication, and logistics, integrating value chains and driving economic growth.

Africa's GDP Growth — The Employment and Income Gap

Africa's GDP Growth — The Employment and Income Gap

A lot of the GDP and the GDP growth isn't converting into household income growth Much of it is actually converting into government revenue growth And then the question is so what is the

Africa's Youth Unemployment Crisis — Millions Excluded

Africa's Youth Unemployment Crisis — Millions Excluded

A short clip from World Data Lab on africa's youth unemployment crisis — millions excluded.

Africa's Job Crisis — A World Lab Focus

A short clip from World Data Lab on africa's job crisis — a world lab focus.

Africa's Female Youth — Job Market Exclusion & Poverty Traps

Africa's Female Youth — Job Market Exclusion & Poverty Traps

And then within the female 50 percent of them are employed as opposed to 64 percent for the male population However when we look at the NEET populations who are out of the job market or training we see 62 million females are NEET or 24 percent of them

Unlocking Africa's Youth Potential — Closing Job & Skills Gaps

Unlocking Africa's Youth Potential — Closing Job & Skills Gaps

for me this report is a call to action for all of us to work together and we we're grateful to World Data Lab and DPRU for helping us to transform

Africa's Growth — Why It's Not Reducing Poverty Effectively

Africa's Growth — Why It's Not Reducing Poverty Effectively

Africa's GDP growth outpaces global averages, yet poverty reduction lags. Explore the critical growth-poverty elasticity gap and why Africa's economic expansion isn't translating into widespread household income gains. Discover the challenges of inclusive growth on the continent.

Empowering Youth — Dignified, Fulfilling, Sustainable Careers

Empowering Youth — Dignified, Fulfilling, Sustainable Careers

for me, taking together, this brings us to a central question, one that demands collective action. How do we enable young people who are actively investing in their skills, in their careers, and in their entrepreneurial ambitions, how do we enable them to progress into work th...

Africa's Youth — Future of Labor Market Insights

Africa's Youth — Future of Labor Market Insights

A short clip from World Data Lab on africa's youth — future of labor market insights.

Africa's Youth — Bridging the Gap for Future Empowerment

Africa's Youth — Bridging the Gap for Future Empowerment

We've also heard that beneath those numbers is a stark reality that too many young people are still living in poverty too many have don't have the skills that they need and too many jobs are lacking dignity protection and stability But at the same time there is hope We heard t...

From 1.85 Billion to 4.7 Billion: How Homi Kharas Predicted the Rise of the Global Middle Class

Blog · March 16, 2026

From 1.85 Billion to 4.7 Billion: How Homi Kharas Predicted the Rise of the Global Middle Class

In 2009, at the height of the financial crisis, Homi Kharas published a landmark paper forecasting a rapidly growing global middle class led by Asia. Seventeen years later, the projection has held up remarkably well.

Five Surprising Insights from the Africa Youth Employment Outlook 2026 Report

Blog · February 17, 2026

Five Surprising Insights from the Africa Youth Employment Outlook 2026 Report

Young Africans work more than their peers anywhere else — yet 104 million live in extreme poverty. Five findings from the new outlook with the Mastercard Foundation and the University of Cape Town.

What World Data Lab's data reveals about a more equal world

Blog · February 5, 2026

What World Data Lab's data reveals about a more equal world

WDL CEO Wolfgang Fengler reflects on a counterintuitive finding from a recent Economist article: despite widespread belief, global consumption inequality has fallen sharply over the past two decades.

Read full Economist article →

Blog · February 3, 2026

The world is more equal than you think

An Economist analysis of newly released WDL data covering 194 economies shows that the spending ratio between the world's richest 10% and poorest 50% has more than halved since 2000.

The present and future of global inequality

Read full post on the WDL blog →

Blog · January 20, 2026

The present and future of global inequality

Ahead of Davos 2026, WDL has compiled income and consumption distribution data across 194 economies to assess where global inequality really stands — and where it is headed.

How to turn a generation at risk into a workforce of the future

Blog · January 9, 2026

How to turn a generation at risk into a workforce of the future

Between 2020 and 2030 Africa's youth population is projected to grow by 132 million — the largest increase in its history. Whether that becomes a dividend or a deficit depends on the choices being made now.

West Africa Youth Employment Data Launch

News · Jul 2025

West Africa Youth Employment Data Launch

World Data Lab and the Mastercard Foundation launch new West Africa employment forecasts, expanding the Africa Youth Employment Clock to deeper sub-regional detail.

Gen Z emerge as biggest consumers as spend hits KSh 4.4 trillion in Kenya

News · Apr 2025

Gen Z emerge as biggest consumers as spend hits KSh 4.4 trillion in Kenya

New WDL data reveals how Gen Z has become the largest consumer cohort in Kenya, reshaping markets, brand strategy and the future of the African consumer economy.

News · Mar 2025

The future of women at work

Ahead of International Women's Day, our team examines what the data really tells us about women, work and the road ahead — from labour-force participation to the digital divide.

WDL and GIZ launch the Water Crisis Clock

Press

Press · Feb 2025

WDL and GIZ launch the Water Crisis Clock

A new clock visualising water stress across the planet — built in partnership with GIZ to support sustainable, equitable management of one of the world's most vital resources.

Read press statement →

$The World's Most Inclusive Math Competition$ News

News · 2025

The World's Most Inclusive Math Competition

Today's students are using maths to track climate change, analyse consumer habits and solve real-life issues through data — and the World Insights Competition makes that journey accessible to every student.

Learn about the World Insights Competition →

News · 2025

World Insights Competition

WDL's World Insights Competition is the most accessible global maths competition for students. No fees, no travel, no calculators needed.

News · 2025

Internet Poverty Index — Annual Update

Our annual update on the Internet Poverty Index, created with the Internet Society Foundation, with new global country-level data on internet poverty.

The World Economy at a Turning Point — with Indermit Gill

The World Economy at a Turning Point — with Indermit Gill

World Bank Chief Economist Indermit Gill on growth, debt and the development model facing its hardest test in a generation.

How well did we do in forecasting the Global Middle Class?

How well did we do in forecasting the Global Middle Class?

Looking back at two decades of middle-class projections — what the models got right, what they missed, and what we are doing differently now.

Building Digital Africa — with Bitange Ndemo

Building Digital Africa — with Bitange Ndemo

Kenya's former ICT permanent secretary on how the continent's digital infrastructure was built, what comes next, and the role of data in African policy.

How Data Changed the Climate Conversation

How Data Changed the Climate Conversation

From global emissions inventories to real-time risk modelling — how better data has reshaped both climate policy and climate politics.

Closing the Data Divide

Most of the world's most important decisions are still made with thin or stale data. We discuss how to close the gap and who pays for the public good.