Creating opportunities for people is central to our mission at the World Bank. As Vice President for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, I’ve visited cities buzzing with youthful energy and rural towns facing deep uncertainty. I’ve seen the resilience of communities in the face of crises—and the determination of young people, women, and reformers to shape a better future.
The region is at a turning point. Demographic change is transforming societies. In some countries, populations are getting younger, creating pressure to generate jobs and expand opportunities. In others, aging populations are testing pension and health systems. These shifts are happening alongside rapid advances in technology, environmental pressures, and ongoing fragility in some states.
Technology, particularly artificial intelligence, is redefining how people learn, work, and connect. It can help teachers tailor lessons to each student, doctors predict and prevent disease outbreaks, and governments target services with precision. But without decisive action, it could also widen inequalities, especially in places where access to the digital world remains limited.
Climate change is no longer a distant threat here—it’s a daily reality. But climate change also presents an opportunity: to invest in green skills, renewable energy, and resilient infrastructure that can create jobs while protecting the planet.
I have met remarkable people across the region who are already leading this change and driving the potential for this region.
To realize this potential, we need to invest in people as our greatest asset. That means strengthening the education systems, so every child gains the skills for a fast-changing world. It means expanding access to quality healthcare and building systems that can adapt to new challenges, from pandemics to heat stress. It means rethinking how we spend public resources, ensuring they reach the people and communities who need them most.
We also need to prepare institutions to be “future-fit”, able to anticipate change, respond quickly, and serve all citizens. In fragile and conflict-affected settings, this is especially urgent. Here, investments in human development can help build the foundations for stability and peace.
The choices we make in the next few years will echo for generations. We can choose to delay, to patch systems that are already under strain, and to let inequalities deepen. Or we can choose to act now, investing in the skills, health, and resilience of our people, and in the institutions that support them.
The second path is not only possible, but it is already underway. It will take commitment, partnerships, cooperation, and a willingness to look beyond short-term fixes.
Our new regional flagship report on human capital – Embracing and Shaping Change - outlines an ambitious but achievable agenda of future-fit human development policies.
Countries will need future-fit human development policies that respond to demographic shifts, technological change, and fragile contexts. This means raising youth and women’s employment, expanding childcare and eldercare systems, and reforming pensions and labor regulations to support longer working lives. Education and training systems need to embed digital and AI skills, link with labor market demand, and create flexible pathways for lifelong learning. Digital platforms, if well regulated, can expand work opportunities, formalize the self-employed, and strengthen tax and social insurance systems. Migration pressures will grow—requiring skills partnerships with destination countries to ensure safe, mutually beneficial mobility. Above all, fragile states must maintain essential education, health, and safety nets to preserve human capital for future recovery.
This will require governance reforms to make institutions more accountable, adaptive, and data-driven; fiscal systems that expand revenues and allocate resources toward cost-effective investments in people; and closer coordination between governments and all stakeholders.
Priorities will differ by context—resource-rich economies can focus on healthy ageing and technology adoption; middle-income countries on rebalancing spending and boosting efficiency; low-income and conflict-affected states on preserving basic services.
The common thread is a bold, sustained investment in people’s capabilities, enabled by digital innovation and inclusive policies, to turn today’s megatrends into opportunities for the next generation.
The region’s future will be shaped not only by its natural resources or its geopolitical position, but by how it values and invests in its people. If we can harness the creativity, resilience, and ambition that already exists in abundance, we can build a future where every person has the opportunity to live with dignity, security, and hope.
