Vulnerability has become the defining challenge of our times. More than one billion people worldwide live in extreme poverty. The need to better understand vulnerability is pressing, particularly in the case of developing countries where bulwarks against risks can be in short supply. This volume brings together essays from leading scholars to study the critical dimensions of vulnerability in developing countries, including the relationship between poverty and vulnerability arising from ill to health and external shocks. Case studies focus on major developing countries like China and India, countries in transition, small island states and failing states.