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Last updated: Oct 2018

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Millennium Development Goals – Current Status

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals
established at the initiative of UN in 2000. All 193 UN member states and at least 23
international organizations committed to help achieve the following eight goals by 2015:

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. To achieve universal primary education
3. To promote gender equality
4. To reduce child mortality
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. To ensure environmental sustainability
8. To develop a global partnership for development

The primary objective on MDGs was to address the global issues of eradication of
poverty/disease and the issues relating to it, safeguarding the deteriorating environment resulting
in climate change, protection of human rights and the vulnerable. The underlying concept and
compelling force was that every human being has the inherent right to live an honorable life with
the right to freedom, equality, and freedom from hunger. The MDGs set concrete targets in this
respect.

The MDGs focused on three areas:

1. Development of socio-physical infrastructure, i.e. development of Human

Resource and uplifting of its social, economic and political status. It included
improving human nutrition, addressing child mortality, AIDS, tuberculosis, and
malaria. Increasing access to safe drinking water, and increasing farm outputs.
2. Improving literacy, access to energy and modern information/communication
technology;
3. Human rights objectives including empowering women, reducing violence,
increasing their political voice, and ensuring equal access to public services and
increasing the security of property rights.

The funds are being provided by the G8 countries. They have agreed to waive off $40 to $55
billion of the heavily indebted countries through the World Bank, IMF, and Asian Development
Bank to help them to redirect their resources to achieve MDGs.

The critics of the MDGs, however, complained of improper analysis/measurements and a

lack of justification behind the chosen goals and uneven progress made by the target countries.
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Although developed countries increased the aid for achieving the MDGs but more than half went
for debt relief, and much of the remainder went to meet with the unseen natural disasters rather
than perceived development. As of 2015, progress towards the goals was uneven. Some countries
achieved many goals, while others were not on track to realize any.

Goals in detail: The MDGs were developed out of several commitments set forth in the
Millennium Declaration signed in September 2000. There are eight goals with 21 targets, and a
series of measurable health and economic indicators for each target. The eight goals are outlined
as below:

Goal 1: Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger

 Bringing to half between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people living on less than
$1.25 a day
 Achieving decent employment for women, men, and young people
 Bringing to half between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from
hunger.

Goal 2: Achieving universal primary education

 All children (boys and girls) to complete a full course of primary schooling by 2015.

Goal 3: Promotion of gender equality and women empowerment

o Eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by

2005, and at all levels by 2015 with respect to ratios of girls to boys in primary,
secondary and tertiary education, the share of women in wage employment in the
non-agricultural sector, and proportion of seats held by women in national
parliament.

Goal 4: Reducing child mortality rates

o Reducing by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015 of under-five mortality rate with
respect to both under five and under one mortality rate.
o Immunization of 1-year-old children against measles to be increased

Goal 5: Improving maternal health

 Reducing maternal mortality rate by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015 and
simultaneously increasing the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel.
o Achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015 with respect to
contraceptive prevalence rate, adolescent birth rate, antenatal care coverage, and
unmet need for family planning.

Goal 6: Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

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o Halting the AIDS by 2015 and seeing the beginning of the reversal of the spread
of AIDS concerning HIV/AIDS prevalence among population aged 15–24 years
and use of condoms to avoid the risks through sex, and proportion of population
aged 15–24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS.
o Achieving by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who
need it concerning the proportion of the population with advanced HIV infection
with access to antiretroviral drugs.
o Halting by 2015 and beginning to reverse the incidence of malaria and other
major diseases with reference to prevalence and death rates associated with it,
proportion of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets,
proportion of children under 5 with fever who are treated with appropriate anti-
malarial drugs, and Incidence, prevalence, and death rates associated with
tuberculosis, proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under Directly
Observed Treatment Short Course.

Goal 7: Ensuring environmental sustainability

 Integrating the principle of sustainable development into country policies and programs
to reverse the environmental degradation.
o Reducing biodiversity loss and achieving a significant reduction in the rate of loss
by 2010 concerning the proportion of land area covered by forest, CO2 emissions,
total, and per capita. proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected, and
proportion of species threatened with extinction
o Bringing to half the proportion of the population without sustainable access to
safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 concerning proportion of
population with sustainable access to an improved water source both urban and
rural and proportion of urban population with access to improved sanitation.
o Achieving a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-
dwellers by 2020 concerning the proportion of urban population living in slums.

Goal 8: Developing a global partnership for development

o Development of an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and

financial system concerning the development of good governance and poverty
reduction both nationally and internationally.
o Addressing the Special Needs of the LDCs with reference to tariff and quota-free
access for LDC exports; enhanced program of debt relief for countries committed
to poverty reduction
o Addressing the special needs of landlocked developing countries and Small Island
Developing States.
o Dealing comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through
national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term.
Some of the indicators listed below to be monitored separately for the LDCs,
Africa, landlocked developing countries and Small Island Developing States.
 Market access with reference of the proportion of total developed country
imports from developing countries and LDCs admitted free of duty, and
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average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products

and textiles and clothing from developing countries

Shortcomings: It was observed that MDGs lack strong objectives and indicators for within-
country equality, despite significant disparities in many developing nations. The entire MDG
process has been accused of lacking legitimacy as a result of failure to include, often, the voices
of the very participants that the MDGs seek to assist. The International Planning Committee for
Food sovereignty in its Post 2015 thematic consultation document on MDG states "The major
limitation of the MDGs by 2015 was the lack of political will to implement due to the lack of
ownership of the MDGs by the most affected constituencies".

According to Deneulin & Shahani the MDGs underemphasized local participation and
empowerment (other than women’s empowerment).

The MDGs were criticized for an insufficient emphasis on environmental sustainability.

Thus, they do not capture all elements needed to achieve the ideals set out in the Millennium
Declaration. Agriculture was not specifically mentioned in the MDGs even though most of the
world's poor are engaged in agriculture profession.

Goals related to maternal mortality, malaria, and tuberculosis are impossible to measure and
that current UN estimates lack scientific validity. Household surveys are the primary measure for
the health MDGs. Furthermore, countries with the highest levels of these conditions typically
have the least reliable data collection. However other analysts such as McArthur and Sachs
countered that setting goals is still valid despite measurement difficulties, as they provide a
political and operational framework to efforts. With an increase in the quantity and quality of
healthcare systems in developing countries, more data could be collected. They asserted that
non-health related MDGs were often well measured.

Achieving the MDGs does not depend on economic growth alone. For instance in the case of
child mortality developing countries such as Bangladesh have shown that it is possible to reduce
child mortality with only modest growth with inexpensive yet effective interventions, such as
measles immunization.

As regards the International Health Partnership (IHP) to accelerate MDG progress by

applying international principles for effective aid and development in the health sector in the
developing countries, significant funding for health came from external sources requiring
governments to coordinate with international development partners. Thus IHP has been
instrumental in building confidence between government, civil society, development partners
and other health stakeholders. According to MDG report, 2010 Malaria deaths declined by more
than one-third.

Over the past 35 years, UN members have repeatedly "committed 0.7% of rich-countries' GNI
to Official Development Assistance. But many Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development nations did not donate 0.7% of their GNI. Some nations' contributions fell far short
of 0.7%.
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Women issues: Increased focus on gender issues concerning empowering women through
access to paid work is helping to reduce child mortality. In South Asian countries babies often
suffered from low birth weight and high mortality due to limited access to health care and
maternal malnutrition. Working women’s access to health care and better nutrition thus has
reduced child mortality. Improved economic opportunities for women have increased female
education and decreased participation in the sex market, which decreased the spread of AIDS.

However, if the donor and developing countries focus on increasing girls’ completion of
secondary school, guaranteeing women’s property rights, reducing gender inequalities in
employment, increasing seats held by women in government, and combating violence against
women, more positive results could be achieved towards the MDGs.

Progress: Progress towards reaching the goals has been uneven across countries. For
instance, Brazil achieved many of the goals, while Benin is not on track to realize any. Other
major successful countries are China and India where poverty population declined from 452
million to 278 million. According to the World Bank, the goal of halving the proportion of
people living on less than $1 a day was achieved in 2008 mainly due to the results from these
two countries and ASEAN countries.

In the early 1990s, Nepal was one of the world's poorest countries and remains South Asia's
poorest country. But by doubling the health spending and concentrating on its poorest areas
halved maternal mortality between 1998 and 2006. Bangladesh has made some of the greatest
improvements in infant and maternal mortality ever seen, despite modest income growth.

Between 1990 and 2010 the population living on less than $1.25 a day in developing
countries halved to 21%, or 1.2 billion people, thus achieving the MDG even before the target
date, although the biggest decline was in China.

Cuba, itself a developing country, played a significant role in providing medical personnel
to other developing nations; it has trained more than 14,500 medical students from 30 different
countries since 1999. Moreover, some 36,000 Cuban physicians worked in 72 countries, from
Europe to Southeast Asia, including 31 African countries, and 29 countries in the Americas.
Central American countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua benefited from Cuban
assistance.

Although developed countries' aid rose during the Millennium Challenge, but more than half
went towards debt relief, and much of the remainder went towards disaster relief.

Post-2015 Agenda: Although there have been major advancements and improvements in
achieving some of the MDGs even before the deadline of 2015, the progress has been uneven
between the countries. In 2012 the UN Secretary-General established the "UN System Task
Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda", bringing together more than 60 UN agencies
and international organizations to focus and work on sustainable development.
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At the MDG Summit, UN Member States discussed the post- 2015 development agenda and
initiated a process of consultations with civil society organizations in the post-2015 process,
along with academia and other research institutions, including think tanks.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda was a process from 2012 to 2015 led by the United
Nations to define the future global development framework that would succeed the Millennium
Development Goals. The new framework, starting from 2016 is called Sustainable Development
Goals.

The Sustainable Development Goals have been proposed as targets relating to future
international development after their expiry at the end of 2015. In 2014, the UN's Commission
on the Status of Women agreed on a document that called for the acceleration of progress
towards achieving the millennium development goals and confirmed the need for a stand-alone
goal on gender equality and women's empowerment in post-2015 goals.

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