The first of the 2000 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of the United Nations is the reduction by half of the proportion of people living under one US dollar a day by 2015. The other seven goals being aspects of poverty are highly correlated and complementary with the first and with each other so that if the first is achieved, the rest would also be within touching distance. The World Bank (2003) has estimated that the number of people living under one US dollar a day was about 896 million in 2004, down from about 1.054 billion in 2002, a reduction of around 70 million. The obstacles to achieving this first goal are as formidable as ever. The instances of success are more the exception than the rule. China represents a singular success, but may remain a singularity for a while. If global performance on the first of the MDG goals looks encouraging, it is largely because China's performance skews it towards satisfactory. India's and Vietnam's recent rapid growth still has to get translated into dramatic drops in poverty incidence. The age-old policy question remains. By contrast, there is hardly any gain in Sub-Saharan Africa. Why this stark contrast? How does a country reduce poverty?