The Millennium Development Goals Report 2010

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the human needs and basic rights that every individual around the world should be able to enjoy - freedom from extreme poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, good health and shelter, better maternal welfare, and an environmentally sustainable world. This report presents the progress so far in meeting the goals.

The report lists the following successes so far despite unmet commitments, inadequate resources, lack of focus and accountability, and insufficient dedication to sustainable development:

• Progress is being made on poverty reduction despite the 2008-2009 economic downturns
• Major advances have been made, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, in education of children
• There are improvements in measles immunization, malaria and HIV control
• Deforestation has slowed down due to tree-planting schemes
• Increased use of improved water sources in rural areas has narrowed the large gap with urban areas
• Mobile telephony continues to expand in the developing world.

The report states that progress made is uneven as shown by the following trends:

• In developing regions, rural children are more likely to be underweight than urban children.
• The gap between the richest and the poorest households remains enormous
• In developing regions, girls in the poorest households are more likely to be out of school than girls in the richest households
• Most children with disabilities are excluded from universal primary education
• Maternal health - most births are attended by skilled health personnel in the developed countries whereas less than half of women receive such care in the developing world
• Disparities in access to care during pregnancy - women in the richest households are more likely to visit a skilled health worker at least once before birth than the poorest women
• Lack of education is another major obstacle to accessing tools that could improve people’s lives
• Contraceptive use is four times higher among women with a secondary education than among those with no education
• Only about half of the developing world’s population is using improved sanitation.

The report states that the last decade has shown what works and provided tools that can help achieve the MDGs by 2015. Improved data and monitoring tools are crucial for devising appropriate policies and interventions needed to achieve the MDGs. Reliable, timely and internationally comparable data on the MDG indicators are crucial for holding the international community to account.