20 January 2016: Gender equality is “not only a core development objective, but smart economics,” declares the World Bank’s ‘Little Data Book on Gender 2016.’ The World Bank launched the book and updated its Gender Data Portal in an effort to provide more and better disaggregated data. The tools provide demographic and economic information for over 200 countries, allowing for comparison across countries and historical periods.

According to the 2016 issue of the Little Data Book, countries have made progress in closing education and health gaps between men and women, but gaps persist in the “agency” of women and girls and in economic opportunities for women. The report presents data on: education; health and related services; economic structure, participation and access to resources; public life and decision making; and agency. It features new online tables, which will be updated quarterly and are linked to the World Development Indicators. The publication also includes several new indicators, on the percentage of: businesses with female owners or females in top management positions; women in ministerial-level government positions; women and men with mobile phones; and women and men who saved money over the past year.

The online Gender Data Portal presents current and historical disaggregated data on topics such as education, health, jobs and political participation. Users can develop data visualization and analysis tools, explore country and topic dashboards with gender equality indicators, and access other sources of gender-related information.

The World Bank notes that this new gender data is part of an effort to prioritize improved gender data and fill data gaps on sex-disaggregated and gender data, as outlined in its ‘Gender Strategy 2016-2023: Gender Equality, Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth.’ [World Bank Press Release] [Publication: The Little Data Book on Gender 2016] [Gender Data Portal] [Gender Strategy 2016-2023]