The evolution of poverty is complex. Modernization has contributed to reducing the proportion of poor people in some very large countries, including China, India and Brazil. Still, the proportion of the poor is growing in most countries. And the number of people living in poverty has significantly increased everywhere. Furthermore extreme poverty, or miseryusually defined as the proportion of people who are below 50 per cent of the poverty line --is the lot of the fastest growing segment of the poor population in almost every country (see sources cited by Castells, 1998, pp. 75-82; and UNDP, 1997).