Global development is at a critical juncture. Despite impressive progress over the past few decades, a growing number of challenges are reversing development gains and jeopardizing prospects for continued progress. These include increasing inequalities and declining trust within societies due to climate change, pandemics, and escalating conflicts around the world. Approximately one-third of the world’s population is at risk of exclusion from services, access to markets, and participation in cultural and political spaces. Exclusion can occur based on characteristics such as gender, disability status, age, sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI), ethnicity, race, and migration status.
Social sustainability, where people feel part of the development process and believe that they and their descendants will benefit from it, is the basis for meeting today’s development challenges. It is the social counterpart of environmental and economic sustainability. Building on decades of commitment to social development, the World Bank’s focus on social sustainability encompasses inclusiveness, resilience, cohesion, and process legitimacy.
Social sustainability and inclusion is the World Bank’s commitment to address long-standing barriers to development, strengthen its focus on those excluded from economic and social opportunities, and increase investment in inclusive growth. It reflects our efforts. We are communities that can work together to overcome challenges, provide public goods, and allocate scarce resources in ways that everyone perceives as just and fair, so that all people can prosper over the long term. We support client countries in building sustainable communities and societies.
Last updated: May 11, 2023