World Development Indicators 2009

Abstract

World Development Indicators (WDI) 2009 arrives at a moment of great uncertainty for the global economy. The crisis that began more than a year ago in the U.S. housing market spread to the global financial system and is now taking its toll on real output and incomes. As a consequence, an additional 50 million people will be left in extreme poverty. And if the crisis deepens and widens or is prolonged, other development indicators, school enrollments, women's employment, child mortality, will be affected, jeopardizing progress toward the millennium development goals. Statistics help us understand the events that triggered the crisis and measure its impact. Along with this year's 91 data tables, each section of the WDI 2009 has an introduction that shows statistics in action, describing the history of the current crisis, its effect on developing economies, and the challenges they face. Official statistical agencies need to take a long range view of their public role, to think broadly about data needs and build strategic partnerships with academia and the private sector.