Before COVID, business in Beijing was booming. Dercon says one of the reasons state-led development in China has been so successful is because the country had a strong state to begin with. Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
Development : Goats and Soda Development
Goats and Soda
STORIES OF LIFE IN A CHANGING WORLDDevelopment
Bonny Omara (left) works with Edgar Mujuni at Japan's Kyushu Institute of Technology on the satellite that will be used to observe land conditions in Uganda. Bonny Omara hide caption
The question of what to call the "developing world" is a developing debate. Jing Wei for NPR hide caption
Our global predictions for 2020 come with a zine — or mini-magazine — you can make yourself. Scroll to the slideshow below to find out how to print and fold this zine. Malaka Gharib/NPR hide caption
In this March 28 photo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a campaign rally in Meerut. One of his efforts as prime minister has been to construct millions of toilets to reduce open defecation. Altaf Qadri/AP hide caption
Pope Francis waves as he arrives at Zimpeto Stadium in Maputo, Mozambique, on Thursday, where he led a public Mass. Tiziana Fabi /AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Demonstrators ransacked this Ebola transit center in Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the struggle to control the disease — and the protests it has sparked — will be part of the global health landscape in 2019. Alexis Huguet /AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the new mayor of Freetown in Sierra Leone, speaks at the 2018 Concordia Annual Summit in New York City. "For decades, there had been no structure, no focused thinking of a strategy for the city," she says. "The way my brain works is with plans. I have to have a to-do list." Riccardo Savi/Getty Images hide caption
The circles on the map pinpoint the location of thousands of Chinese-funded development projects. The bigger the circle, the bigger the investment. The largest circles represent projects in the multibillion-dollar range. Map by Soren Patterson, AidData/William & Mary/Screenshot by NPR hide caption
This 2013 photo of schoolgirls in Haiti shows the slow progress in recovering from the 2010 earthquake. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
A Somali fisherman carries a fish to the market near the port in Mogadishu. One of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals calls for the world to "conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development." Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Kanye West surprised everyone -- including the U.N. -- by tweeting about the organization's sustainable development goals. Chris Pizzello/AP hide caption
Portrait of a Nile crocodile. Matthijs Kuijpers/Getty Images hide caption
A paddy field sits on the outskirts of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, the only country that even comes close to delivering the good life in a sustainable way. Hoang Dinh Nam /AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Mohamed Yonus (dark shirt, green skirt) carries his distribution bag to his home in the Hakimpara refugee camp. Allison Joyce for NPR hide caption
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks at the U.N. headquarters on January 16. Atilgan Ozdil/Getty Images hide caption
Victoria Falls sits on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Photos of beautiful scenes from Africa and Haiti have been flooding the Internet in response to President Trump's reported slur. Westend61/Getty Images hide caption
Pope Francis spoke to the ambassadors to the Holy See on Monday. Vatican Pool/Getty Images hide caption