In September 2000, 189 heads of state and government came together at
the United Nations for the Millennium Summit. At the Summit, leaders
firmly committed to fight together against poverty and hunger, gender
inequality, environmental degradation, and HIV/AIDS, while improving
access to education, health care and clean water, all by 2015. These
wide-ranging commitments gave birth to the eight Millennium
Development Goals (MDG´s). The MDG´s are measurable - each one has a
set of targets against which progress can be assessed.

So six years ago leaders made a solemn promise to the world´s
citizens. Let´s take a look at each Goal and some of the specific
targets within those Goals to get a sense of where things stand on
these promises.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Fact: 1.1 billion people are forced to survive on less than $1 a day.

Target: The first goal aims to halve the proportion of people whose
income is less than $1 a day.

Progress: On current trends, this target will be met at the global
level by 2015. However, the target will be met largely because of
positive developments in Asia - in particular in India and China.
While this success should not be underestimated, there are regions
which are lagging and which will not make the necessary progress;
this is particularly the case for sub-Saharan Africa.

Fact: Over 800 million people - almost twice the population of the 25-
country European Union - suffer from chronic hunger, meaning they do
not get enough food to lead an active and healthy life.

Target: Goal 1 also aims to halve the proportion of people who suffer
from chronic hunger.

Progress: The percentage of the world´s population suffering from
chronic hunger has fallen somewhat in recent years. Modest progress
is being registered in the worst affected regions - sub-Saharan
Africa and South Asia. Nevertheless, the decline is slowing and is
not currently sufficient to ensure that we meet the target by 2015.

What is more, the fall in the proportion of people suffering from
chronic hunger has not been enough to prevent the actual number of
people suffering from hunger from increasing. Trends in East Asia
provide some reason for concern: after falling in the early 1990s the
absolute number of people suffering from chronic hunger is again
rising.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Fact: Over 100 million school-age children are not in school and over
100 million more children that are currently in school will leave
without learning to read or write.

Target: The second goal aims to ensure that, by 2015, girls and boys
alike will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

Progress: There is some progress on getting children into schools.
Net enrollment ratios are increasing in the two regions which are
most behind, i.e. sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. However, there
is a need for more progress on keeping children in school. Neither
sub-Saharan Africa nor South Asia is on track to ensuring that all
children complete a full course of primary education by 2015. Other
regions are either close to universal primary education or are close
to making sufficient progress by 2015. However, there are individual
countries within even these more successful regions which are still
seriously lagging.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Fact: More than one in five girls of primary-school age around the
world are not in school.

Target: When a country educates its girls, its mortality rates
usually fall and the health and education prospects of the next
generation improve. The third goal aims to eliminate gender
disparities in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005,
and in all levels of education by no later than 2015.

Progress: Unfortunately, the first of the Millennium Development Goal
targets - to eliminate gender parities in primary and secondary
education by 2005 - has already been missed. Gender gaps continue to
exist in all educational levels. Globally, more than one in five
girls of primary-school age are not in school compared with about one
in six boys. Of most concern are the wide gender gaps in primary
education in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where almost 80% of
the world´s out-of-school children live. In sub-Saharan Africa 42% of
primary school age girls are out of school compared with 38% of boys.
In South Asia the gap is wider with 29% of primary-school age girls
out of school compared with 22% of boys.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Fact: Each year almost 11 million children under the age of 5 die in
developing countries, most of them from preventable causes. 11
million is more than the entire population of Belgium.

Target: Goal 4 aims to reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate for
children under the age of 5.

Progress: Though survival prospects continue to improve in every
region, at the global level progress has slowed considerably in
recent years. This means that we are far from making the necessary
progress to reduce under-five mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015.
According to the most recent data available, only 35 countries are
making enough progress. Sub-Saharan Africa - which is ravaged by
civil disturbance and HIV/AIDS - provides the most cause for concern.
This region has only 20% of the world´s young children but accounts
for half of the total deaths.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Fact: Death in childbirth is a rare event in rich countries, where
there are typically fewer than 10 maternal deaths for every 100,000
live births. In the poorest countries of Africa and Asia the ratio
can be 100 times higher.

Target: Goal 5 aims to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three-
quarters by 2015.

Progress: Despite the issue of maternal mortality having been high on
the international agenda for two decades, ratios of maternal
mortality have changed little in the regions where the most deaths
occur: sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.

Adequate reproductive health services, family planning advice,
skilled attendants at delivery and timely referrals to emergency
obstetric care are all necessary to reduce maternal deaths. All
regions are showing some improvement in the proportion of deaths
attended by skilled health-care personnel. Nevertheless, only 46% of
deliveries in sub-Saharan Africa - where almost half of the world´s
maternal deaths occur - are attended by skilled personnel.


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

Fact: Today, someone living in Zambia has less chance of reaching the
age of 30 than someone born in England in 1840 - and the gap is
widening. HIV/AIDS is at the heart of this massive reversal in life
expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa.

Target: Goal 6 aims to have halted and reversed the spread of
HIV/AIDS by 2015.

Progress: Globally, HIV infection rates continue to increase and the
number of people living with HIV has continued to rise from 36.2
million in 2003 to 38.6 million in 2005. This is despite the fact
that several countries report success in reducing HIV infection
rates.

The epidemic remains centred on sub-Saharan Africa. With just over
10% of the world´s population, the region is home to 64% of HIV-
positive people and to 90% of children (under 15) living with the
virus. Around 59% of HIV-positive adults in sub-Saharan Africa are
women. HIV prevalence rates in sub-Saharan Africa appear to be
levelling off at relatively high rates, but this apparent
stabilization reflects the fact that as new people acquire the virus,
nearly the same number die from AIDS.

While prevalence rates are lower outside of sub-Saharan Africa, the
number of people infected is increasing and so is the death rate. In
2005, there were almost a million new cases in South and East Asia,
where more than 7 million people are now living with HIV/AIDS.

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Fact: In sub-Saharan Africa 300 million people lack access to safe
drinking water.

Target: Goal 7 aims to halve the proportion of people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water.

Progress: The share of people using drinking water from improved
sources has continued to rise in the developing world. This share
increased to 80% in 2004 from 71% in 1990. This means that the world
is currently on track to reach the drinking water target. However,
growing populations and wide disparities between urban and rural
areas within countries pose continuing challenges.

At a regional level, while there is progress in sub-Saharan Africa,
it is not yet on track to meet the target. Moreover, this is the
region with the worst disparities between rural and urban
populations.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Fact: In 1970 almost all of the rich countries of the world promised
to provide 0.7% of their national income (GNI) in aid. Today - more
than 35 years later - only 5 countries fulfil this commitment.

Target: Goal 8 aims to create a global partnership for development
between rich and poor countries. In particular, rich countries are
committed to providing more and better quality aid, to enhancing debt
relief and to fairer trade rules.

Progress: Even though 21 of the 22 OECD donor countries signed up to
the 0.7% target for aid in 1970, in 2005 these countries together
provided only 0.33% of their collective national income in
development assistance! However, in May 2005, the more prosperous
European Union Member States - the EU-15 - recommitted to meeting the
0.7% target by 2015. These countries need to plan carefully to
rapidly increase their aid, and other countries should follow their
lead. However, without improvements in aid quality, increased aid
will not eliminate poverty. Yet donors are slow or absent in
operationalising aid-quality commitments.

In recent years, there have been enhanced global initiatives for the
cancellation of both bilateral and multilateral debt. While debt
relief is key to releasing resources for MDG-focused expenditures in
developing countries, it is important that debt relief is not used to
`artificially´ boost aid figures - as it counts in the official
definition of aid - and to divert funds away from the most needy
countries and individuals.

More than aid and debt relief, trade has the potential to increase
the share of the world´s poorest in global prosperity. Yet, rich
country trade policies continue to deny the poor this opportunity.
Remedying this situation requires a host of measures such as cutting
rich country agricultural subsidies and opening up rich country
markets to the exports of poor producers in developing countries.
Unfortunately, a key opportunity to do this was lost in 2006 when
talks on a new world trade agreement under the so-called Doha
"Development" Round of trade talks were indefinitely suspended.