The Global Gender Gap Report 2014
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Through the Global Gender Gap Report 2014, the World Economic Forum quantifies the magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracks their progress over time. While no single measure can capture the complete situation, the Global Gender Gap Index presented in this Report seeks to measure one important aspect of gender equality: the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy and politics.
Latest blog posts >>
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3 ways digital payments can support sustainable economic growth
Friday 17th of January 2020
Five years ago, every member of the UN agreed to work in partnership with the private sector to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As a global payments network with infrastructure that operates in 200 countries and territories, we believe Visa has a role to play in supporting the UN’s agenda for sustainable development. Here is how:
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We must move from egocentric to ecocentric leadership to safeguard our planet
Friday 17th of January 2020
Our planet is in trouble. Even after mobilizing billions of dollars to mitigate and respond to the damaging effects of climate change, we may only be addressing the symptoms of a much deeper-rooted issue. We have seen a significant rise in declarations of climate emergency, conferences, coalitions and innovations to address climate change – but we are also seeing an increasing gap between what is needed and what is actually being done to safeguard our planet. What is the underlying cause that we are failing to address?
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Davos 2020: Here’s what you need to know about tech for good
Friday 17th of January 2020
When the first participants gathered in Davos in 1971, personal computers and mobile phones hadn’t been invented, ATMs were yet to hit the mainstream, and the medical devices and genetic tests routinely used in today’s clinical practice were inconceivable.
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Regenerative business: a roadmap for rapid change
Friday 17th of January 2020
Multinational businesses with interconnected operations have traditionally sought to scale everything globally – from raw materials sourcing and equipment purchasing to HR policies – with a goal to create maximum efficiency. What has emerged of late is a hybrid approach, nicknamed ‘glocal’, that makes the most of scaled practices while recognizing that manufacturing sites, consumer habits and labour markets often have drastically different footprints. Local consumer needs can vary significantly, as can solutions for protecting local biodiversity. Paying more urgent attention to regional needs with a long-term mindset can step-change progress, so that each community the business touches can thrive.
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3 key challenges for blockchain in 2020
Friday 17th of January 2020
In 2019 the blockchain revolution ground to a halt. At least that’s the word from those who should know.
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What’s for lunch? Sustainability on the Davos menu
Friday 17th of January 2020
Choosing what to eat for lunch is usually a simple decision.
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It’s time for the first green industrial revolution
Friday 17th of January 2020
Winter in Finland is spectacular. Bright sunshine, T-shirt warmth, sunbeds on every balcony.
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Five essential steps to take right now to tackle climate change
Friday 17th of January 2020
The climate crisis is bad news: the world is getting hotter and greenhouse gas emissions are still rising despite decades of warnings about the fire consequences. But a glimmer of good news is that we can act – right now – in ways that will start to address the problem.
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How to build seamless integrated mobility systems for the cities of the future
Friday 17th of January 2020
The future of cities has captured the global imagination for centuries, and some of those earlier thinkers were prescient. A UK Ministry of Transport report in 1963 warned of the effects of traffic and motorcar ownership, and recommended getting cars off the road and repurposing street space. A half-century before, in 1911, French architect Eugène Hénard envisaged the first version of a seamless mobility: a central tower to coordinate the various mobility modes and facets of a hypothetical modern city.
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Who’s coming to Davos 2020, and everything else you need to know
Friday 17th of January 2020
The world’s top leaders from politics, business, civil society, academia, media and the arts are set to descend on the Swiss mountain village of Davos for the World Economic Forum’s 50th Annual Meeting from 21-24 January.
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9 reasons to be optimistic about tech in 2020
Friday 17th of January 2020
2020 is the year that some of the most-hyped technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will reach full maturity and begin to deliver on their promise.
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How to build a better India by 2030
Friday 17th of January 2020
It is 2030 and India is among the world’s top three economies. Its citizens live with advanced technology in a mutually beneficial ecosystem. Technology creates opportunity. Its users have access to quality jobs, better healthcare, and skill-based education—all of which were out of reach just ten years before. In this vision of India, digital technology helps people bridge gaps that presently hold them back. This is a Bridgital Nation, and it’s achievable within a decade.
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How to incentivize food systems to meet the realities of the 21st century
Friday 17th of January 2020
Food systems are currently not fit for purpose. They do not meet the food and nutrition security needs of a growing global population and create significant environmental and health costs. As such, a comprehensive transformation is required in the way our food is produced – including the practices of more than 500 million smallholder farmers – and the consumption patterns of 7.7 billion people.
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Meet the teen science star using magnetic liquid to remove microplastics from water
Friday 17th of January 2020
Kayaking around the craggy shores of West Cork, in a remote corner of Ireland, Fionn Ferreira’s eye was drawn to the amount of plastic pollution being washed in by the Atlantic.
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Lessons from Singapore on how tech can help the elderly thrive
Friday 17th of January 2020
Aw Wah Peng has been living alone ever since his wife died in 2008. And he likes it that way. Like many people, he doesn’t want his advancing years to affect his independence. He doesn’t particularly feel the need to interact with others and wants to hold off interventions from the care system for as long as he can.
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Chile is tackling obesity by changing the way people think about food
Friday 17th of January 2020
In 2016, Chile faced a stark health crisis. The rate of obesity had doubled since 1980 and was set to push up national healthcare costs by $750 million every year for the next two decades.
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Jobs will be very different in 10 years. Here’s how to prepare
Friday 17th of January 2020
Over the next 10 years, 1.2 billion employees worldwide will be affected by the adaptation of automation technologies and AI. This is equal to 50% of the world economy and will disrupt US$14.6 trillion in wages. The magnitude of this digital transformation may be alarming, especially as it is projected to disproportionately affect vulnerable, low-skills populations. But in reality, automation will change the nature of work more than it displaces workers. Therefore, it is necessary for us to understand and address the challenges of automation, in order to build towards a sustainable and more equitable future of work.
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This AI rubbish bin will help fight food waste at Davos
Friday 17th of January 2020
If you want to improve something you have to be able to measure it. That’s as true for elite athletes as it is for the challenge of reducing food waste. One-third of all the food produced ends up in a bin somewhere as waste, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. But which third? And which bin? And why?
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Three ways to improve mental health at work
Friday 17th of January 2020
One in four people worldwide will suffer from a mental disorder at least once in their life. In the European Union alone, estimates suggest that some 50 million people are affected. In addition to significant suffering of those directly affected and their families, mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety cost the economy roughly $US1 trillion worldwide each year due to productivity losses. But despite the pervasiveness of mental disorders and the tremendous cost to individuals, society and the economy, mental issues are often still stigmatized and considered a taboo topic. For companies, it is important to proactively support the mental health of its employees – not just for economic reasons, but also to ensure inclusion and prevention in the workplace, particularly since some triggers for mental disorders can often be found at work.
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How one injured turtle can swim freely again thanks to a unique prosthetic limb
Friday 17th of January 2020
Goody is swimming contentedly across a pool in Bangkok under the watchful eye of a team of vets. She looks much like any other sea turtle, but with one big difference – a unique artificial flipper.
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Meet the Japanese minister setting an example by taking paternity leave
Friday 17th of January 2020
Japanese environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who has said he will take paternity leave here in a rare move for a Japanese man, has announced the birth of his first child: a boy.
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Countdown to Davos: what we need to do to scale up access to children’s surgical care
Friday 17th of January 2020
Two billion children lack access to surgical services leading to more than 6 million deaths every year. More than 6 million children die from congenital disorders, injury, and cancer. Young adolescent girls, particularly in Africa, die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
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The U.S. trade deficit in one chart
Friday 17th of January 2020
Thanks in part to a $2 billion drop in its trade deficit with China, the U.S. trade deficit dropped to a three-year low in November 2019. As the Bureau of Economic Analysis has reported, the deficit in international trade of goods and services amounted to $43.1 billion in November, the lowest level since October 2016.
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NASA and NOAA: last decade was the hottest on record
Friday 17th of January 2020
The last decade was the hottest since record-keeping began 150 years ago, according to the latest data from U.S. agencies the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
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Microsoft wants to erase its carbon footprint – past and future
Friday 17th of January 2020
Microsoft Corp on Thursday set a new ambition among Fortune 500 companies in addressing climate change, pledging to remove as much carbon as it has emitted in its 45-year history.
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Europe’s lakes and rivers are under threat – but it’s not too late to save them
Friday 17th of January 2020
More than 5,500 scientists have signed an open letter saying that Europe is facing a severe threat to its freshwater biodiversity and must do more to protect its rivers and lakes.
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Could the Saraha turn Africa into a solar superpower?
Friday 17th of January 2020
You may have seen a variant of this meme before. A map of North Africa is shown, with a surprisingly small box somewhere in Libya or Algeria shaded in. An area of the Sahara this size, the caption will say, could power the entire world through solar energy:
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3 Big ways that the U.S. will change over the next decade
Friday 17th of January 2020
The U.S. has just entered the new decade of the 2020s.
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The powerful connection between inequality and climate change
Friday 17th of January 2020
While denizens of the world’s wealthiest economies debate the fate and fortune of the middle class, over 800 million people worldwide have no access to electricity. And more than two billion have no clean cooking facilities, forcing them to use toxic alternatives such as animal waste as their main cooking fuel. Furthermore, per capita carbon dioxide emissions in Europe and the United States are still vastly higher than in China and India. What right do Americans, in particular, have to complain as China increases production in smokestack industries to counter the economic slowdown caused by its trade war with the US? To many in Asia, the inward-looking debate in the West often seems both tone deaf and beside the point.
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Beyond trust: Why we need a paradigm shift in data-sharing
Friday 17th of January 2020
Over the past 30 years, society has become used to free services on the internet. Users fell in love with the accessibility and openness of the search engines, email and video-sharing sites; the deal felt like a bargain at a time when data was a new resource of unknown value. Users trusted companies to store their information and grew accustomed to convenient, seamless online experiences. They shared and connected with abandon.
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The real cost of addiction
Friday 17th of January 2020
This is an extract from Judith Grisel’s Never Enough. Join our World Economic Forum Book Club to discuss this excerpt.
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Climate emergency: how our cities can inspire change
Friday 17th of January 2020
Our cities are growing rapidly in terms of inhabitants and the space they occupy. Every minute, we add 10,000 square metres of city space. Every five days, we build a new Paris. Each year, the total size of Japan.
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A pragmatist’s guide to zero-emission logistics
Friday 17th of January 2020
Getting to zero emissions in logistics is a daunting prospect. Developing zero-emissions fuels and vessels is a critical pathway forward, but this approach has its limitations. In a cost-driven industry, a high-cost, high-risk focus on zero-emissions technology may position many players in emerging markets as part of the dirty past – not the clean future. We need a pragmatic approach that balances high-tech practices with practical ones that offer a role for everyone. We can reduce avoidable emissions through more efficient supply chains, but we need to shift mindsets. That’s where we should take immediate steps while continuing the longer journey.
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The Future of Capitalism by Paul Collier – an extract
Friday 17th of January 2020
This is an extract from Paul Collier’s book The Future of Capitalism. Join our World Economic Forum Book Club to discuss this excerpt.
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World Economic Forum asks all Davos participants to set a net-zero climate target
Friday 17th of January 2020
All companies coming to Davos have been asked to commit to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 or earlier.
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Asset owners can help drive the economic change we need. Here’s how
Friday 17th of January 2020
‘Pacta sunt servanda’; agreements must be kept.
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How to hasten the energy transition in the developing world
Friday 17th of January 2020
Emerging economies are expected to experience the highest growth in energy demand in the coming decades, mostly because they are starting from a low or modest base. This means their future energy trajectories must be at an intersection of inclusive, affordable and sustainable growth.
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Partnerships and interdependence can triumph over nationalism and isolationism. Here’s how
Friday 17th of January 2020
Consider the towns of Bhikki, Balloki, and Haveli Bahadur Shah, located on the fertile plains of the Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province.
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How social innovation can deliver the SDGs: six lessons from the Schwab Foundation
Friday 17th of January 2020
Social entrepreneurship, as a form of organized social innovation, successfully demonstrates alternative working models to face the critical challenges to our planet, our societies and our economies. As the urgency to meet our shared challenges and common goals of the SDGs by 2030 intensifies, social innovators have an important catalytic role to play in highlighting and integrating what has worked effectively with local, sustainable solutions into the global economy.
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Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 will rest on these 3 pillars
Friday 17th of January 2020
Net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050: what even a year ago seemed a distant vision is now becoming technically realistic – and possible.
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Hundreds of millions of workers need reskilling. Where do we start?
Thursday 16th of January 2020
The task of reskilling millions of workers may feel overwhelming.
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Diversity is the bridge on which we can cross the skills gap
Thursday 16th of January 2020
Ask business leaders today the biggest business risk in the future, and they will likely say hiring and retaining a skilled workforce.
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3 steps towards enlightened leadership – and career success
Thursday 16th of January 2020
It’s been more than a year since I was elected chairwoman of Egon Zehnder. Although I was an experienced professional before then, when I reflect on just how much I’ve learned in just a few short months about being a leader, I shake my head in wonder.
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How to power inclusive growth from the ground up
Thursday 16th of January 2020
Over the past three decades it has become increasingly clear that neighbourhoods play a key role in shaping economic prospects. A long body of research shows that where we live determines many of our life opportunities—from access to good schools to decent jobs and the transportation that connects us to those jobs.
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Why workplace diversity and inclusion should not be a numbers game
Thursday 16th of January 2020
In today’s numbers-driven economy, it’s all too easy to think of diversity and inclusion as just another target to meet.
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Davos 2020: Here’s what you need to know about the future of work
Thursday 16th of January 2020
By now we’ve all heard the statistic: in the next five years more than half of all workplace tasks will be performed by machines. Many jobs, as we know them, will cease to exist. Paper after paper, including this one by the World Economic Forum, warns of the impact of automation on working people.
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8 ways to ensure your company’s AI is ethical
Thursday 16th of January 2020
Keeping up with artificial intelligence (AI) and data privacy can be overwhelming. While AI holds plenty of promise and opportunity, there are also concerns about data misuse and personal privacy being at risk. As we evaluate these topics and as the Fourth Industrial Revolution unfolds, questions arise about the promise and peril of AI, and how organizations can better realize its value.
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Davos 2020: Here’s what you need to know about Better Business
Thursday 16th of January 2020
“There is one and only one social responsibility of business,” said Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman: “to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.”
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Why stem cells could be the medical innovation of the century
Thursday 16th of January 2020
Right now, your body’s stem cells are working hard replacing your skin every two weeks, creating new red and white blood cells and completing thousands of other tasks essential to life. They are your own personalized fountain of youth.
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What you need to know about Davos 2020: How to save the planet
Thursday 16th of January 2020
As the year began, vast tracts of Australia were burning, Jakarta was under water, while Norway recorded its warmest January day ever.
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We all have a stake in global health security
Thursday 16th of January 2020
At a time of increasing nationalism and a rejection of globalism, infectious disease is a reminder that we are interconnected and all have a stake in global health security. When Pakistan has an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant typhoid, cases are seen popping up in Canada, Denmark, the UK and the US.
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The 3 key ingredients for the digital transformation of manufacturing
Thursday 16th of January 2020
The process of digital transformation is happening in a range of industries, but perhaps no more so than manufacturing. There are examples of successful digital transformation, but the reported success of digital transformation at scale is slow. In early 2019, the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, reported that more than 70% of industrial companies were in “pilot purgatory” when it came to their adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution technology. The same report found that only 29% actively deploy Fourth Industrial Revolution technology at scale, while a greater number, 30%, have yet to pilot this technology or are on the cusp of doing so.
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Davos 2020: Here’s what you need to know about health and healthcare
Thursday 16th of January 2020
At the start of a new decade, the state of global health is something of a paradox.
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Davos 2020: Here’s what you need to know about geopolitics
Thursday 16th of January 2020
Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the geopolitical landscape is increasingly unsettled. The US-led Western world order – which emerged in the post-War period and then prevailed following the collapse of the Soviet Union – is being challenged by new centres of power and new sets of issues.
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Here’s how the private sector can lead the global energy transition
Thursday 16th of January 2020
When energy changes, so does the world. As a new decade beckons, the pace of change needs to accelerate.
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Urban pollution: breathing new life into India’s cities
Thursday 16th of January 2020
India’s pollution woes have been grabbing national and international headlines lately. Delhi has come under the special spotlight due to record levels of air, water pollution and waste management disasters. But these problems are not exclusive to the city of Delhi alone. When Delhiites were finding it difficult to breathe in the city around Diwali, at least 13 cities in India had higher air pollution levels than Delhi, according to the data by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). What is not well known, are problems like lack of right disposal of human waste, which flows back into the food and water leading to myriad problems. While this issue is subterranean, it is not less pernicious than air pollution. As India rapidly urbanises, we are facing a very real threat of unstoppable urban degradation, and the first victims are the poorest of the poor.
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2019 was the oceans’ hottest year on record
Thursday 16th of January 2020
The world’s oceans just had their warmest year on record.
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Davos 2020: Here’s what you need to know about the global economy
Thursday 16th of January 2020
As 2020 gets underway, the global economy is at a crossroads. Rising inequality, trade tensions, technological disruptions, climate change and geopolitical uncertainty all threaten to weigh on already-fragile economic growth at the start of the new decade.
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How factories of the future are leading the way to innovation in manufacturing
Thursday 16th of January 2020
As the world of production face a perfect storm wrought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the accelerating climate emergency, raising trade tensions and growing economic uncertainty, manufacturers must develop new capabilities and adapt. The companies best positioned to successfully navigate this storm are those that embrace advanced manufacturing technologies and solutions across their factories and supply chains, creating value and improving operations while also increasing sustainability. These companies can offer valuable lessons to those at risk of falling behind.
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How universities must adapt to train future leaders
Thursday 16th of January 2020
Education will change significantly over the next decade as competitiveness becomes increasingly driven by learning. Many higher education systems were designed for the needs of the past century and have not yet been redesigned to deliver the skills required for the disruptions ahead.
