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UNITED NATIONS MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations were officially established at the Millennium Summit in 2000, where 189 world leaders adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, from which the eight-goal action-plan, the 'Millennium Development Goals', was particularly promoted.

What are the UN Millennium Development Goals?

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all of the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest people.

Millennium Development Goals in detail

GOAL 1 - Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day

• Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people

• Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

GOAL 2 - Achieve universal primary education

• Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling

GOAL 3 Promote gender equality and empower women

• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015

GOAL 4 - Reduce child mortality

• Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five

GOAL 5 - Improve maternal health

• Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio

• Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

GOAL 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

• Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

• Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it

• Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

GOAL 7 - Ensure environmental sustainability

• Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources

• Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss

• Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

• Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020

GOAL 8 - Develop a global partnership for development

• Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory, includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction— nationally and internationally

• Address the least developed countries' special needs. This includes tariff- and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction

• Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States

• Deal comprehensively with developing countries' debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term

• In cooperation with the developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth

• In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries

• In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies— especially information and communications technologies
  

Message from the Secretary-General, United Nations

Since their adoption by all United Nations Member States in 2000, the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals have become a universal framework for development and a means for developing countries and their development partners to work together in pursuit of a shared future for all.

We are now at the midpoint between the adoption of the MDGs and the 2015 target date. So far, our collective record is mixed. The results suggest that there have been some gains, and that success is still possible in most parts of the world. But much remains to be done. There is a clear need for political leaders to take urgent and concerted action, or many millions of people will not realize the basic promises of the MDGs in their lives.

The MDGs are still achievable if we act now. This will require inclusive sound governance, increased public investment economic growth, enhanced productive capacity, and the creation of decent work. Success in some countries demonstrates that rapid and large-scale progress towards the MDGs is feasible if we combine strong government leadership, good policies and practical strategies for scaling up public investments in vital areas with adequate financial and technical support from the international community.

To achieve the Goals, nationally-owned development strategies and budgets must be aligned with them. This must be backed up by adequate financing within the global partnership for development and its framework for mutual accountability.

The world wants no new promises. It is imperative that all stakeholders meet, in their entirety, the commitments already made in the Millennium Declaration, the 2002 Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development, and the 2005 World Summit. In particular, the lack of any significant increase in official development assistance since 2004 makes it impossible, even for well-governed countries, to meet the MDGs. Adequate resources need to be made available to countries in a predictable way for them to be able to effectively plan the scaling up of their investments.

Ban Ki-moon

Secretary-General, United Nations