Monday, July 11, 2011

FYI: MDGs Progress

The deadline set for the Millennium Development Goals is just four years away. Are we anywhere near success?

According to the UN report released a few days ago, progress of MDGs is a mixed bag. Find out where we are succeeding and where countries need to beef up their commitments.

The good:
  • The global poverty rate is set to drop to below 15%, a better percentage than the 23% goal set out by the UN. 
  • Child mortality rates have improved. In 1990, the number of children under the age of 5 who died was 12.4 million. In 2009, this number dropped to 8.1 million.
  • Deaths from malaria have decreased 20% since 2000.
  • HIV infection rates have dropped 21% since 1997.
  • Approximately 1.8 billion people now have access to clean and safe drinking water.
The not so great:
  • Development has been uneven and large gaps of peoples within countries are not reaping any benefits from progress in the MDGs. 
  • The poorest children are still behind in progress with regards to nutrition. In 2009, a quarter of children in the developing world were underweight. 
  • Areas of conflict damper any development progress. For example, 28 million or 42% of primary school age children who are not enrolled in school live in conflict affected areas.
  • Employment opportunities for women are still slim and with the recent global economic downturn, growth in employment for women was lower than for men. 
  • More than 2.6 billion people still lack access to toilets.

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