This paper summarizes evidence suggesting that road improvement in rural areas can contribute significantly to lowering the incidence of poverty, improving educational participation of primary school aged children, and reducing rates of illness. This is done in the context of rural areas of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. It is widely recognized that rural roads in the countries are a major developmental problem. It seems obvious, just by inspecting these roads, that improving them would produce benefits. But demonstrating and quantifying the effects on indicators relevant to the Millennium Development Goals, such as the incidence of poverty, educational participation and health standards, is another matter.