Sub-Saharan Africa has the greatest proportion of people living in extreme poverty in the world. More than 40%, or roughly 300 million people, live on less than $1 a day.

The continent's environmental and geographical challenges render African countries most vulnerable to persistent extreme poverty. With low-productivity agriculture, a high disease burden and high transport costs, rural communities find themselves stuck in a poverty trap and are unable to make the investments required to achieve self-sustaining economic growth.

The Millennium Villages was set-up to turn this situation around by addressing all the major problems simultaneously - hunger, disease, inadequate education, lack of safe drinking water and an absence of essential infrastructure.

Click on any village for information and to see the amazing results that are being achieved by the Millennium Villages Project or go to the scaling up page to see how these proven results can be further expanded.