Entering the 21st century: the challenges for development

By many people, the 20th century will be remembered as an era of great achi evement in human endeavour, and of enormous economic growth and prosperity. Achievements in medical research, from eradicating infectious diseases to laser surgery; in engineering, from the transistor to space exploration; an d in economic development have all contributed to greater well being in the world at the end of the 20th century Among the challenges to development i dentified by the World Bank in the coming decades will be managing the twin processes of globalization and localization, as well as post-conflict reco nstruction. These will form the backdrop of the Bank's main focus of creati ng a world free of poverty.