The problems, as would be expected, are acutest for the poorest of the poor countries. We tend to think, therefore, that once a country makes a breakthrough, either to democracy or to some minimum economic floor (perhaps our $2,000-$3,000 per person per year income), its problems are over. But development is an ongoing process; there are always ----even in highly developed countries---residual problems or hangovers from the past and new challenges for the future. In most developing countries illiteracy remains high, and that is an ongoing problem. Health care is limited and life expectancy is low, and those features retard development. Poverty remains widespread; diseases like AIDS may ravage the population; and whole areas of the country (usually rural) and often the majority of the population remain locked in poverty even while the urban, modernizing sectors begin to change. What wealth exists is often terribly unevenly distributed between the rich and poor---although there are intriguing differences that are difficult to explain. Among the world’s major geographic/ cultural areas, Latin America has the world’s worst distribution of income, while Asia has the most equitable distribution. There is no doubt that Latin America’s unequal income distribution holds back development by excluding (varying by country) upwards of 50, 60, 70, and even 80 percent of the population from effective, full participation in the national social, economic, and political life.