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MDG Database 2009 update - NEW!

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MDG Report 2009 launched - NEW!

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009 was launched in Geneva by the Secretary-General on 6 July. The report, which presents the yearly assessment of global progress towards the MDGs, is prepared by the Statistics Division of DESA on the basis of inputs provided by the members of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators. Less than six years away from the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the report warns that despite many successes, overall progress has been too slow for most of the targets to be met by 2015. And major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have begun to slow or even reverse as a result of the global economic and food crises.

The Report is also available in French and Spanish and will soon become available in the other UN official languages.

MDG Report 2008

On 11 September 2008, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008. This report was one of the key inputs for the High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals held on 25 September 2008.

The Report is the most comprehensive global assessment of progress as of August 2008. It is based on work carried out by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on the official MDG Indicators. It provides hard evidence for each of the eight MDGs, showing what has been accomplished so far in each of the world’s major geographic regions. It outlines what the world needs to do to succeed by 2015. The Report may be accessed in the other UN official languages.

An addendum to the Report reflects the data on global poverty released by the World Bank after the publication of the Report. These show that the number of extremely poor people in the world fell from 1.8 billion in 1990 to 1.4 billion in 2005 and that the proportion of extremely poor people fell from 41.7 per cent to 25.7 per cent over the same period. If progress continues at this pace until 2015, the world will achieve the overarching Goal of reducing extreme poverty by half.

DSG unveils Millennium Development Goals publication at midway point to 2015

As G8 leaders are expected to discuss Africa during this week's summit in Germany, a new UN-published brief (full text) notes that sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to achieve any of the Millennium Development Goals.

The brief was unveiled to the media on 6 June 2007 by Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro who told reporters that all of the challenges can be addressed using resources, skills and technologies that the international community has at its disposal, based on the commitments made by African Governments and the donor community alike (press conference summary).

It is now the midway point between the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 and the 2015 target date for achieving them.

A full description of the goals is available on the UN web site.

Although there have been major gains in several areas and the Goals remain achievable in most African nations, even the best governed countries on the continent have not been able to make sufficient progress in reducing extreme poverty in its many forms, some of which are outlined in the brief.

There are some positive indicators to note as well.

The brief says that "while it is well known that the continent is the only region in the world where the number of extreme poor has risen over the past fifteen years, it may be less well known that African countries have experienced major improvements in key development fundamentals" and goes on to list some improvements and success stories.

Statistical analysis and charts in the publication are an advance excerpt from The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007, which is scheduled to come out later this month, and based on the most up-to-date and comprehensive statistics available on global and regional MDG progress.

More than 20 UN funds, programmes and agencies and other international organizations, including the World Bank and the OECD, contribute to this annual report, which is coordinated and published by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division.