UN Documents
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
At the start of the new millennium, the international community decided that it was time to get serious about poverty reduction. The United Nations formulated eight goals that must be achieved by 2015, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
- MDG 1: reduce by half (compared to 1990) the number of people living on less than a dollar a day and who suffer from hunger.
- MDG 2: ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling.
- MDG 3: eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005 and at all education levels by 2015.
- MDG 4: reduce by two thirds (compared to 1990) the mortality rate among children under five.
- MDG 5: reduce by three quarters (compared to 1990) the maternal mortality rate.
- MDG 6: halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB.
- MDG 7: reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.
- MDG 8: ensure that rich countries lift trade barriers to poor countries, lighten their debt burden, provide access to affordable medicines and make more financial aid available.
