There is no lack of information on the extreme forms of deprivation which the majority of people in this world now suffer. Most of these people live in Asia, Africa and Latin America. There are, in addition, glaring inequalities in wealth between different parts of the world and also within individual countries. The 'widening gap between 'developed and 'developing countries has become a cliche. There are also a good many indications, less well documented perhaps, that the situation of the very poor, especially in rural areas in underdeveloped countries, is becoming worse in absolute as well as in relative terms, mainly because distribution within countries is becoming more unequal.