World Bank

The World Bank is the world’s largest multilateral lender to governments, created at the Bretton Woods conference in 1944 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. Its stated mission is to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity — on a livable planet.

The Bank lends through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which serves middle-income and creditworthy low-income governments. The IBRD is one arm of the wider World Bank Group, alongside IDA (concessional finance for the poorest countries), IFC (private-sector finance), MIGA (political-risk insurance) and ICSID (investment-dispute settlement).

The IBRD raises most of its money by selling AAA-rated bonds on world capital markets, then on-lends to members at low rates with long maturities. Membership in the IBRD is what makes a country a World Bank member.

The Bank is owned by its member countries. A Board of Governors — one governor per member, usually the finance minister — is the supreme authority. Day-to-day oversight sits with 25 resident Executive Directors.

The President leads management. Ajay Banga has served as President since June 2023. The Bank’s staff work from Washington and from country offices around the world.

IBRD loans finance infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, energy, climate adaptation and public-sector reform. The Bank also supplies data, technical advice and convening power: its country diagnostics and global reports shape how development money is spent.

Its lending is paired with conditions on governance, procurement and safeguards — a source of both influence and recurring criticism from borrowing governments and civil society.

Membership below is IBRD membership: the IBRD counts 189 member countries in total, and the Factbook listing shows 187 of them.

• World Bank, worldbank.org — About, IBRD membership, governance.
• World Bank Annual Report — lending volumes and institutional structure.
• Bretton Woods Agreements, 1944 — founding charter of the IBRD.

World Bank has 189 member countries, ranked by national power. The strongest members are United States, China, Russia. The Bureau lists every member with its power score, from the most powerful to the least. Membership reflects the Factbook's country coverage as of October 2026.