The State of World Rural PovertyPoverty 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