World Bank President warns 1.2bn young people will compete for 400m jobs in next 15 years
Over the next 10 to 15 years, 1.2 billion young people will arrive at a job market projected to offer only about 400 million jobs, the World Bank President, Ajay Banga, has warned.
Making remarks at the 2026 World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings Plenary in Bangkok, Thailand, he said this generation will shape the next century. Therefore, “the choices we make today will help determine how”.
“Those are the twin challenges we have been working to address: Making scarce resources go further… while helping countries create jobs at scale. They must be addressed together”, he mentioned.
Over the past three years, he said the World Bank has used these Annual Meetings to lay out the work it is undertaking, changes it is making, and the ambition behind them.
“This year, I want to focus on our progress—and where it is taking us. The future of development will depend on bringing public finance, private investment, philanthropy, and technology together around what each country needs”, he added.
World Bank on Reforms
Furthermore, Ajay Banga said the World Bank has begun reforms, cutting project preparation from 19 months to nine. “Replaced 153 scorecard measures with 22 focused on impact. Increased pay-for-results financing from about one-third to half. Brought our public and private sector teams together around country-led strategies. And reengineered our balance sheet—creating more than $100 billion in additional IBRD lending capacity over a decade”.
The World Bank Boss said the number of projects on its digital co-financing platform has tripled in two years to about 250 projects, seeking $138 billion in financing.
“We are cutting duplication by relying on each other’s work with the Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and EBRD—and expanding that model”.
“Taken together, these changes give us greater capacity. Our jobs strategy gives it direction”, he explained.
He pointed out that the Jobs Council drew on experience across countries and sectors to identify policies and programmes that create more and better jobs. The strategy that emerged rests on three pillars.
First, he mentioned physical and human infrastructure.
According to him, employers need electricity, water, transport, and digital connections, while people need health, education, and skills. Last year, the World Bank committed $40 billion—nearly one-third of its financing—to these foundations.
Second, regulatory and policy certainty.
Third, scale, he added.
“That is how we bring more private capital into development”, he explained.
In 2022, the year before its work plan began, the World Bank mobilised roughly $35 billion in private capital.
Last year, it raised $112 billion, a threefold increase.
Alongside its own financing, total financing exceeded $230 billion.
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