Sub-Saharan Africa is at the centre of the debate about development and about the relationship between prosperity in the North and poverty in the South. However, the data base for much of the argument is very weak. The purpose of this book is to present an up-to-date picture based on a critical evaluation of several hundred studies. Separate chapters consider food, fuel and water, health and education, and then three cross-cutting issues: urbanisation, women and human rights. The uniqueness of the book is not only in the care with which the data is examined but also in the emphasis upon interpreting data within a framework oriented towards the monitoring of the satisfaction of basic human needs.