WASHINGTON (AP) — The world’s most desperate countries are falling further and further behind, their plight worsened by conflicts that are growing deadlier and more frequent.
That is the sobering conclusion of the World Bank’s first comprehensive study of how 39 countries contending with “fragile and conflict-affected situations’’ have fared since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020.
“Economic stagnation —rather than growth —has been the norm in economies hit by conflict and instability,” said Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s deputy chief economist.
Since 2020, the 39 countries, which range from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific to Mozambique in sub-Saharan Africa, have seen their economic output per person fall by an average 1.8% a year. In other developing countries, by contrast, it grew by an average 2.9% a year over the same period.
More than 420 million people in the fragile economies are living on less than $3 a day — the bank’s definition of extreme poverty. That is more than everywhere else combined, even though the 39 countries account for less than 15% of the world’s people.
Many of these countries have longstanding problems with crumbling infrastructure, weak governments and low levels of education. People in the 39 countries get an average of just six years of schooling, three years fewer than those in other low- and middle-income countries. Life expectancy is five years shorter and infant mortality is twice as high.
Increasing conflicts have made things worse. In the 2000s, the world saw an annual average of just over 6,000 conflicts — in which organized groups used armed force against other groups or against civilians and cause at least one death. Now the annual average exceeds 20,000. The conflicts are more lethal, too: In the 2000s, they took an average of fewer than 42,000 lives a year. From 2000 through 2024, the number averaged almost 194,000.
Of the 39 countries, 21 are involved in active conflicts, including Ukraine, Sudan, Ethiopia and Gaza. The World Bank finds that countries involved in high-intensity conflict — which kill more than 150 out of every 1 million people — see a cumulative drop of 20% after five years in their gross domestic product, the output of goods and services.
More conflict also means more hunger: The World Bank estimated that 18% -- around 200 million – of the people in the 39 countries are “experiencing acute food insecurity’’ compared with just 1% in other low and middle-income countries.
Some countries have managed to escape the cycle of conflict and economic fragility. Kose cites Nepal; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Rwanda; and Sri Lanka as relative success stories.
And the World Bank report notes that the 39 countries do enjoy strengths, including natural resources such as oil and natural gas and a lot of young, working-age people at a time when many economies are aging.
“Some of them are very rich when it comes to their tourism potential,’’ Kose said. “But you need to have security established. You and I are not going to go and visit these places unless they are safe even though they might be the most beautiful places in the world.’’
Ukrainian servicemen carry a body repatriated from Russia, at the morgue in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
SYDNEY (AP) — Two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi beach, killing 15 people, including a child, officials said Monday, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.
The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those and the shooting Sunday were connected. It was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.
One gunman, a 50-year-old man, was fatally shot by police. The other shooter, his 24-year-old son, was wounded and was being treated at a hospital, said the Mal Lanyon, New South Wales police commissioner.
Police said one gunman was known to security services, but Lanyon said authorities had no indication of a planned attack.
Those killed were aged between 10- and 87-years-old, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters. At least 38 others were injured in the attack.
“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach, that is associated with joy, associated with families gathering, associated with celebrations,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday.
“It is forever tarnished by what has occurred.”
Police pledged a “thorough” investigation, Lanyon said. Authorities were not looking for anyone else in connection with the massacre.
The violence erupted at the end of a summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, including hundreds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.
Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach worldwide and sponsors events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the event.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details.
Police said emergency services were called at about 6:45 p.m., responding to reports of shots being fired. Video by onlookers showed people in bathing suits running from the water as shots rang out. Separate footage showed two men in black shirts firing with long guns from a footbridge leading to the beach.
One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one gunman, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.
Minns called the man, identified by relatives to Australian media as fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed, a “genuine hero.”
Arsen Ostrovsky, a lawyer attending the Hanukkah ceremony with his wife and daughters, was grazed in the head by a bullet. Ostrovsky said he moved from Israel to Australia two weeks ago to work for a Jewish advocacy group.
“What I saw today was pure evil, just an absolute bloodbath. Bodies strewn everywhere,” he told The Associated Press in an email from the hospital. "I never thought would be possible here in Australia."
Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told the AP he was waiting for his family when he heard shots.
"I sprinted as quickly as I could," Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes. “Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible."
Albanese vowed the violence would be met with “a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith.”
King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack.” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on X he was horrified, and his “heart is with the Jewish community worldwide.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X: “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world.”
Police in cities around the world, including London, said they would step up security at Jewish sites.
Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the government's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.
Last year, the country was rocked by antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population lives.
Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran.
Pastor Matt Graham, who was conducting a service at Bondi Anglican Church when panicked people began entering for shelter, said antisemitism has been brewing in Sydney’s eastern suburbs including Bondi, where the Jewish community is centered.
“I’m surrounded by antisemitic graffiti constantly,” Graham told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "As a Christian, I just want to declare I stand with the people of Israel.”
Israel urged Australia's government to address crimes targeting Jews. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he warned Australia’s leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He claimed Australia's decision — in line with scores of other countries — to recognize a Palestinian state “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”
“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia ... and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said.
His office released safety recommendations Monday for Israelis traveling abroad, including avoiding large gatherings that don’t have security, especially events at synagogues and Hanukkah gatherings. It also called for heightened awareness at Jewish and Israeli sites.
Mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws, making it much more difficult to acquire firearms.
Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014 and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.
In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state.
McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia, and Graham-McLay from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Mustakim Hasnath in London contributed to this report.
Police patrol in the early morning following a shooting Sunday at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A motorcycle lies on the ground in the early morning near the site of a shooting Sunday at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A small Christmas tree is at the center of an abandoned holiday picnic at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Bystanders stay where police cordon off an area at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers standby at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
