ABSTRACT
The 1980s was a decade of adjustment for much of the Third World-for most countries in Africa and Latin America, and for quite a number of countries elsewhere in the developing world. The decade was also one of rising poverty in Africa and Latin America-a sharp reverse in the previous trend of gradual reductions in the numbers in poverty. In Asia in contrast, poverty was reduced over these years. Between 1985 and 1989 the numbers in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa rose from 191 million to 228 million; in Latin America and the Caribbean the numbers rose from an estimated 91 million in 1980 to 133 million in 1989.1 The decade also saw rising unemployment, reduced progress in improving human indicators, such as infant mortality rates, and worsening indicators of educational performance in many adjusting countries. Not all adjusting countries had poor performance of this kind: for example, Indonesia succeeded in reducing poverty and improving human indicators, while adjusting, as did Colombia. But good performance on human and social indicators among adjusting countries was the exception rather than the rule.
