Poverty is spreading. There are now as many people living in absolute poverty --almost a billion in the rural Third World alone--as lived on the entire planet only a century ago. Yet poverty continues to be shrouded in mystery. Consider that: Four-fifths of the world's poor live in rural areas; About 340 million people worldwide are currently chronically ill from malnutrition; Over 500 million do not get enough calories to do a full day's labor; At a time when enough grain is being produced to provide everyone in the world with twice the daily minimum caloric requirements, global hunger is at an all-time high; Half again as many rural women--almost 600 million--live in absolute poverty today as did 20 years. In an effort to call special attention to this urgent problem, the International Fund for