Regional Highlights

Abstract

These regional highlights present some of the key trends in developing countries, drawn from the data presented in World Development Indicators 2012, the World Bank's annual compilation of relevant, high-quality, and internationally comparable statistics about development and the quality of people's lives. Charts and short narratives highlight the state and progress of various development topics such as poverty, health, education, the environment, the economy, governance, investment, aid, trade, and capital flows. A global review of progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is presented in the introduction to the world view section of World Development Indicators 2012. The high income economies are the largest emitters of carbon dioxide, but East Asia and the Pacific produces the largest share of global carbon dioxide emissions among developing regions-more than a quarter of total global emissions. As the global economy becomes more integrated, air transport is increasingly important for delivering not only perishable goods such as flowers, but also highly specialized component parts used in transnational production networks. Agriculture is a declining industry in Europe and Central Asia. The share of agriculture in regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell from 19 percent to 7 percent over the last two decades. People in the developing economies of Europe and Central Asia have greater access to commercial bank branches and automated teller machines than people in other developing regions-about 18 commercial bank branches and 45 ATMs per 100,000 adults. Governments and citizens in Latin America and Caribbean spend more on health care as a share of GDP than other developing regions, which is reflected in generally good health outcomes. Poverty is falling in the Latin America and Caribbean, most notably in Brazil-the most populous country in the region. South Asia has the second lowest business start-up costs among developing regions.