The present study describes, and
quantifies the provision of basic urban services to the
poor, in three Central American cities in El Salvador,
Honduras, and, Panama. It also identifies priority areas for
government intervention, using specialized household surveys
to quantify current deficits, and to rank households from
poor to rich, using aggregate consumption as the measure of
welfare. The urban poverty profile is examined in each city,

The study aims to contribute towards a
national urban strategy, in an effort to maximize
Mexico's cities competitiveness, and livelihoods, in
the urban economists' terms - to maximize agglomeration
economies, while minimizing congestions costs. The country
is in a good position for this challenge: it has relatively
a mature urban system, implying an overall urban population
growth, and, a reasonably balanced system of cities.

Although the State of Ceara, in Brazil,
is a model of good economic, and fiscal performance given
its poverty status, recent analysis show poverty remains
severe, in spite of significant reductions over the last
decade. The combination of good governance, and sound fiscal
management, industrial promotion, and public investments
have been successful, but the report questions whether
different policies, could have led to higher growth, and

The study reviews the living standards
in Turkmenistan, shaped by the Soviet legacy - whose income
levels in 1989 were below the socially acceptable minimum -;
by the economic decline throughout the 1990s, until recent
economic resumption; and, by current approaches, and
government policies. In an attempt to ensure good living
standards, the country maintained one of the highest levels
of subsidization of basic goods: water, gas, fuel, and

This paper analyzes poverty in rural and semi-urban areas of Mexico (localities with less than 2,500 and 15,000 inhabitants, respectively) and provides guidance on a social agenda and poverty alleviation strategy for rural Mexico. The analyses are based on INIGH and ENE data sets for 1992-2002. Monetary extreme poverty affected 42 percent of the rural dwellers in dispersed rural areas and 21 percent in semi-urban areas in 2002, slightly less than one decade earlier.

The author identifies conditions under
which the urban sector's share of the poor population
in a developing country will be a strictly increasing and
strictly convex function of its share of the total
population. Cross-sectional data afor 39 countries and
time-series data for for India are consistent with the
expected theoretical relationship. The empirical results
imply that the poor urbanize faster than the population as a

Environmental degradation primarily
affects the poor, both in rural and urban areas. Reversing
the downward spiral of this degradation is essential to any
strategy for reducing poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. This
study outlines the World Bank's strategy for improving
its assistance to SSA countries as they move toward
environmentally sustainable development (ESD). It assesses
the environmental situation and long-term trends in Africa,

Unplanned and unregulated urban
development is not unique to Swaziland, but addressing the
issue through direct consultations with beneficiaries is an
important improvement toward resolving this persistent
problem. The Swaziland Urban Development Project includes
standard infrastructure work, such as increasing urban
roads, rehabilitating and expanding water and sewage
services, and developing a solid waste facility However, in

The report updates the poverty situation
in Armenia, largely based on the Integrated Living
Conditions Survey conducted during 1998-99, and provides as
well, the foundation for the preparation of the Poverty
Reduction Strategy. The poverty profile identifies a
widespread, and still deep poverty incidence, but while this
poverty seems persistent, its depth and severity may be
decreasing, and extreme poverty subsiding. Notwithstanding

The people of Swaziland are its greatest
resource. Yet, social and economic indicators of household
welfare converge to confirm fundamental inequalities in
access to incomes and assets, and the existence of
significant poverty and deprivation. Furthermore, as the
regional economic and social climate is transformed, the
fragile gains of the past are being fast eroded. At this
historic juncture, the Swazi poor need to come to the fore

Nigeria's urban infrastructure is
crumbling. Water supply, sewerage, sanitation, drainage,
roads, electricity, and waste disposal-all suffer from years
of serious neglect. Periodic and routine maintenance, by far
the most cost-effective infrastructure spending, is almost
zero. It has become the norm in Nigeria to wait for a
capital infusion to rehabilitate, replacing instead of
maintaining the infrastructure. But declining financial

Land underpins all the key aspects of the NEW URBAN AGENDA because it is a key driver for inclusive and sustainable urban development