This paper investigates the existence of positive solutions for 2nth-order singular sub-linear m-point boundary value problems. Firstly, we establish a comparison theorem, then we define a partial ordering in C2n-2 [a, b] boolean AND C-2n(a, b) and construct lower and upper solutions to give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of C2n-2[0, 1] as well as C2n-1[0,1] positive solutions. Our nonlinearity f(t, x(1), x(2),...., x(n)) may be singular at x(i) = 0, i = 1, 2,..., n, t = 0 and/or t = 1. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.