These WDI Highlights are drawn from World Development Indicators (WDI) 2016 - the World Bank’s compilation of internationally comparable statistics about global development and the quality of people’s lives. The 2016 edition of World Development Indicators offers a condensed presentation of the principal indicators, arranged in their traditional sections, along with regional and topical highlights and maps.

Minimizing desertification and land degradation.(page32-33). The loss of potential and existing agricultural land to drought, floods, and land degradation affects vast swathes of the world’s poor, many of whom depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and nourishment. Restoring land and soil (target 15.3) helps keep land degradation in check.
Soil degradation affects 52 percent of agricultural land, and arable land is being lost at 30–35 times its historical rate. Drought and desertification have led to losses of 12 million hectares,2 on which 20 million tons of grain could have been grown, and have further impoverished already vulnerable communities.
Degradation in the drylands— zones naturally predisposed to high aridity and water scarcity— is causing the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares.