This report finalized in March 2001
constitutes a step toward the objective of designing an
integrated strategy for rural poverty reduction in Brazil,
The report contains an updated and more detailed profile of
the rural poor in the northeast (NE) and southeast (SE) of
Brazil; identifies key determinants of rural poverty in
these regions; and proposes a five-pronged strategic
framework in which to couch a set of integrated policies

The report provides a synthesis of the
main results obtained on the evolution of poverty, and other
indicators of well being over the 1990s, and is intended to
facilitate debate on strategy options for poverty reduction
in Madagascar. Section I provides the setting for study, and
presents a synthesis of macroeconomic trends in the country
during the last decade. Section II looks at the evolution of
poverty, inequality, and other indicators over the 1993-1999

The unifying theme of the public
expenditure review is the growth and poverty focus of public
expenditures, evolving around the question of how effective
public expenditures are in addressing Maldives'
overriding objective of reducing regional disparities and
income poverty, particularly in the outer atolls. Since
macroeconomic stability is a key prerequisite for sustained
high economic growth and poverty reduction, the soundness of

Household fuel choice in the past, has
often been analyzed and understood through the lens of the
energy ladder model. This model places relatively heavy
emphasis on household fuel switching in response to rising
incomes. This report views energy use through a household
economics framework. The household economics framework
clarifies that, in addition to income and market prices, the
opportunity costs of firewood collection also need to be

This report summarizes the proceedings
from a workshop, the first in the region designed to foster
a multi-sectoral approach to development energy services for
poverty reduction, held at the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, October 23-25, 2002. It was co-organized by the
World Bank-UNDP sponsored Energy Sector Management
Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the World Bank Africa Energy
Unit, and others. The report focuses on the key issues

Urbanization, which is almost completed
now in developed countries and even in Latin America, is now
proceeding in much of Asia at an unprecedented rate. Many of
the countries in the region have up to half their population
now living urban lifestyles and increasingly also living in
urban regions. The forms that urbanization is taking in the
developing countries, however, are problematic. Towns and
cities that were never planned to have large populations are

This report examines poverty issues in the Kyrgyz Republic, focusing on three areas. First, it provides a summary of the trends in poverty over the period 2000-2003 by drawing upon comparable data from the Household Budget Surveys from those years. Second, based upon the Kyrgyz Integrated Household Survey (KIHS ) it presents the new estimates of absolute and extreme poverty by applying updated poverty analysis methodology.

This report summarizes and consolidates the findings of three Bank studies on poverty issues in Mexico, written as part of the second phase of this work: Urban Poverty, Rural Poverty, and Social Protection. It also expands on how Mexico will seek to use social protection policy as a vehicle for redistribution. Discussed in Chapter 1, the state has a clear role in providing risk-pooling mechanisms where private insurance markets fail (e.g., old age and health insurance), but the role of social protection policy in promoting redistribution is more an issue of national choice.

The proliferation of urban slums is due
in large part to obsolete regulatory, legal and
institutional frameworks at the local level governing land
use, development standards, land registration and titling.
These regulations are often exclusionary, insisting on
development norms and standards that are outside the realm
of the poor to pay and subdivision procedures are often over
burdensome, leading to informal land subdivision, thus

The Little Green Data Book 2005 is based on the World Development Indicators 2005, and represents an abbreviated collection of information. Its production is a collaboration between the Development Economics Data Development Group, and the Environment Department of the World Bank. Development and poverty alleviation-the World Bank's mission-call for a long-term vision. Enhancing environmental quality, improving natural resource management, and maintaining global ecosystems are all important steps toward this goal.

This book talks about participation,
from the first to the last page. And that is its strength,
for participation is a road leading to democracy. The true
participation it talks about does not rely on hours of
compulsory labor or imposed levies; there is nothing forced
about it. Rather, it is a process in which men and women
engage their will, their sense of responsibility, their
abilities, their dignity. It is a vital participation,

The Little Green Data Book 2004 is based
on the World Development Indicators 2004, and represents a
succinct collection of information. It is a collaboration
between the Development Economics Data Development Group,
and the Environment Department of the World Bank. Under the
headings of agriculture, forests, biodiversity, energy,
emissions and pollution, water and sanitation, and
'greener' national accounts, it presents key