Millennium Development Goals - Overview

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were formulated during the Millennium Summit held in New York, USA in 2000 and refined through the "Roadmap towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration: Report of the Secretary General to the General Assembly" in 2001.

To measure progress towards the goals, a framework of 18 targets and 48 indicators was set up by a consensus of experts from the United Nations Secretariat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. The following is a detailed list of the targets and indicators for each of the goals. Please click on the MDG you are interested in within the table below to go to that goal within this list, or just scroll down the page to review them all.

For access to the 2000 Millennium Declaration:

Click here to download the PDF version or

Click here for the HTML version on the Millennium Summit website .

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger [top]

• Target 1 - Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportions of people whose income is less than $1 a day.
  
  • Indicator 1: Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day
  • Indicator 2: Poverty gap ratio
  • Indicator 3: Share of poorest quintile in national consumption
• Target 2 - Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportions of people who suffer from hunger.
  
  • Indicator 4: Prevalence of underweight Children under five years of age
  • Indicator 5: Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education [top]

• Target 3 - Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course

  of primary schooling.

  • Indicator 6: Net enrolment ratio in primary education
  • Indicator 7: Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5
  • Indicator 8: Literacy rate of youth aged 15-24 years.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women [top]

• Target 4 - Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005 and in all levels of

  education no later than 2015.

  • Indicator 9: Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education
  • Indicator 10: Ratio of literate women to men aged 15-24 years
  • Indicator 11: Share of Women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector
  • Indicator 12: Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality [top]

• Target 5 - Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
  
  • Indicator 13: Under-five mortality rate
  • Indicator 14: Infant mortality rate
  • Indicator 15: Proportion of 1 year-old children immunised against measles

Goal 5: Improve maternal health [top]

• Target 6 - Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.
  
  • Indicator 16: Maternal mortality ratio
  • Indicator 17: Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

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

• Target 7 - Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
  
  • Indicator 18: HIV prevalence among pregnant women aged 15-24 years
  • Indicator 19: Condom use rate of the contraceptive
    
    • 19a - Condom use at last high-risk sex
    • 19b - Percentage of population aged 15-24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of

      HIV/AIDS

  • Indicator 20: Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non- orphans aged 10 to

    14 years

• Target 8 - Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
  
  • Indicator 21: Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria
  • Indicator 22: Proportion of population in malaria-risk areas using effective malaria prevention and

    treatment measures

  • Indicator 23: Prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis
  • Indicator 24: Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under DOTS

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability [top]

• Target 9 - Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse

  the loss of environmental resources.

  • Indicator 25: Proportion of land area covered by forest
  • Indicator 26: Ratio of area protected to maintain biological diversity to surface area
  • Indicator 27: Energy use (kg oil equivalent) per $1 GDP (PPP)
  • Indicator 28: Carbon dioxide emissions per capita and consumption of ozone depleting CFCs
  • Indicator 29: Proportion of population using solid fuels
• Target 10 - Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.
  
  • Indicator 30: Proportion of population with sustainable access to an Improved water source, urban and

    rural

  • Indicator 31: Proportion of population with access to improved sanitation, urban and rural
• Target 11 - Have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
  
  • Indicator 32: Proportion of households with access to secure tenure

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development [top]

• Target 12 - Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system.

  This includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction - both nationally and internationally.

• Target 13 - Address the special needs of the least developed countries, which includes tariff- and quota- free

  access for exports, enhanced programme of debt relief for and cancellation of official bilateral debt, and more generous official

  development assistance (ODA) for countries committed to poverty reduction.

• Target 14 - Address the special needs of land-locked countries and small island developing states through the

  Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and 22nd General

  Assembly provisions.

• Target 15 - Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and

  international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term.
  
  

  Official Development Assistance

  • Indicator 33: Net ODA, total and to LDCs, as percentage of OECD/Development Assistance

    Committee (DAC) donors' gross national income

  • Indicator 34: Proportion of total bilateral, sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to basic social

    services (basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation)

  • Indicator 35: Proportion of bilateral ODA of OECD/DAC donors that is untied
  • Indicator 36: ODA received in landlocked developing countries as a proportion of their GNIs
  • Indicator 37: ODA received in small island developing states as proportion of their GNIs

  
  
  Market Access

  • Indicator 38: Proportion of total developed country imports (by value and excluding arms from

    developing countries and from LDCs, admitted free of duty)

  • Indicator 39: Average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products and textiles and

    clothing from developing countries

  • Indicator 40: Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries as percentage of their GDP
  • Indicator 41: Proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity

  
  

  Debt Sustainability

  • Indicator 42: Total number of countries that have reached their Heavily Indebted Poor Countries

    Initiatives (HIPC) decision points and number that have reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative)

  • Indicator 43: Debt relief committed under HIPC initiative
  • Indicator 44: Debt Service as a percentage of exports of goods and services




• Target 16 - In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive

  work for youth.

  • Indicator 45: Unemployment rate of young people aged 15-24 years, each sex and total
• Target 17 - In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in

  developing countries.

  • Indicator 46: Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a sustainable

    basis

• Target 18 - In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially

  information and communications technologies.

  • Indicator 47: Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 population
  • Indicator 48: Personal computers in use per 100 population and internet users per 100 population