An improvement in the rule of law from the levels observed in countries, such as Ukraine or Indonesia to the middle range corresponding to the Czech Republic or South Korea, could be associated with a doubling of the per capita income over the medium term and a sharp improvement in the quality of people's lives, says the bank report, "The Quality of Growth", on Monday.

Its overall prescription for eliminating poverty, favours a blend of policies that promotes economic growth with those that embrace wider access to education, greater protection of the environment, more civil liberties and stronger anti-corruption measures, according to a World Bank report published on Monday.

The World Bank president, James D. Wolfensohn, said that a better quality of life for the poor calls for higher incomes, which require sound economic policies and institutions conducive to sustained growth.

"Achieving higher incomes and a better quality of life calls for improved and equitable opportunities for education and jobs, better health and nutrition, a cleaner and more sustainable natural environment, an impartial judicial and legal system, greater civil and political liberties, trustworthy and transparent institutions and freedom of access to a rich and diverse cultural life," he says.

Looking back over the development results of the previous decades, the report says that the world has every reason to celebrate the new millennium. A child born today can expect to live 25 years longer, and is healthier, better educated and more productive than a child born 50 years ago. The communication revolution holds a promise of universal access to education.

However, upon closer examination, the report states that at least 100 million more people are living in poverty today than a decade ago and the gap between rich and poor is growing wider.

In many countries the scourge of AIDS has cruelly cut life expectancy. In some African countries the life expectancy has been cut by more than 10 years. Each year 2.4 million children die of waterborne diseases. As many as a billion people have entered the 21st century unable to even read or write. Around 1.8 million people die every year of indoor air pollution in rural areas alone. Forests are being destroyed at the rate of an acre a second, with unimaginable loss of biodiversity.

"Just as the quality of people's diets, and not the quantity of food they eat, influences the health and life expectancy, similarly the way in which the growth is generated and distributed has profound implications for people and their quality of life," says Vinod Thomas,World Bank's vice president and lead author of the new report.

It cites India, where differences in levels of education (in addition to agricultural productivity) explain why the response of poverty rates to growth have varied widely across different states. How widely and fairly education is made available also matters.

A new survey of 85 countries shows that Poland and the United States are the world's fairest educators in terms of providing equitable opportunities for schooling. In many countries, such as Afghanistan, Algeria, India, Mali, Pakistan and Tunisia, the inequality in education is staggering. These inequalities imply that vast number of people, often women or oppressed minorities, do not get the opportunity to improve their lives through education. Consequently, the loss to society is huge, says the report.

-- IANS