millennium development goals millennium development goals the millennium development goals (mdgs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the millennium summit of the united nations in 2000, following the adoption of the united nations millennium declaration. these were based on the oecd dac international development goals agreed by development ministers in the "shaping the 21st century strategy". the sustainable development goals (sdgs) succeeded the mdgs in 2016. this article is about the 2015 goals. for the 2030 goals, see sustainable development goals. the millennium development goals are a un initiative. all 191 united nations member states, and at least 22 international organizations, committed to help achieve the following millennium development goals by 2015: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger to achieve universal primary education to promote gender equality and empower women to reduce child mortality to improve maternal health to combat hiv/aids, malaria, and other diseases to ensure environmental sustainability to develop a global partnership for development each goal had specific targets, and dates for achieving those targets. the eight goals were measured by 21 targets. to accelerate progress, the g8 finance ministers agreed in june 2005 to provide enough funds to the world bank, the international monetary fund (imf) and the african development bank (afdb) to cancel $40 to $55 billion in debt owed by members of the heavily indebted poor countries (hipc) to allow them to redirect resources to programs for improving health and education and for alleviating poverty. interventions evaluated include (1) improvements required to meet the millennium development goals (mdg) for water supply (by halving by 2015 the proportion of those without access to safe drinking water), (2) meet the water mdg plus halving by 2015 the proportion of those without access to adequate sanitation, (3) increasing access to improved water and sanitation for everyone, (4) providing disinfection at point-of-use over and above increasing access to improved water supply and sanitation (5) providing regulated piped water supply in house and sewage connection with partial sewerage for everyone (hutton, g. evaluation of the cost and benefits of water and sanitation improvements at the global level, 2004 who-geneva) critics of the mdgs complained of a lack of analysis and justification behind the chosen objectives, and the difficulty or lack of measurements for some goals and uneven progress, among others. although developed countries' aid for achieving the mdgs rose during the challenge period, more than half went for debt relief and much of the remainder going towards natural disaster relief and military aid, rather than further development. as of 2013, progress towards the goals was uneven. some countries achieved many goals, while others were not on track to realize any. a un conference in september 2010 reviewed progress to date and adopted a global plan to achieve the eight goals by their target date. new commitments targeted women's and children's health, and new initiatives in the worldwide battle against poverty, hunger and disease. among the non-governmental organizations assisting were the united nations millennium campaign, the millennium promise alliance, inc., the global poverty project, the micah challenge, the youth in action eu programme, "cartoons in action" video project and the 8 visions of hope global art project. background origins following the end of the cold war, a series of un‑led conferences in the 1990s had focused on issues such as children, nutrition, human rights and women, producing commitments for combined international action on those matters. the 1995 world summit on social development produced a copenhagen declaration on social development with a long and complex list of commitments by global leaders, including many adapted from the outcomes of previous conferences. but international aid levels were falling and, in that same year, the development assistance committee of the oecd set up a reflection process to review the future of development aid. the resulting 1996 report, "shaping the 21st century", turned some of the copenhagen commitments into six monitorable "international development goals", which had similar content and form to the eventual mdgs: halving poverty by 2015; universal primary education by 2015; eliminating gender disparity in schools by 2005; reductions in infant, child and maternal mortality by 2015, universal access to reproductive health services by 2015 and adequate national strategies for sustainable development in place everywhere by 2015. in late 1997, the un general assembly envisaged a special millennium assembly and forum as a focus for efforts to reform the un system. a year later, it specifically resolved to hold not only the millennium assembly but also a millennium summit, and mandated the secretary-general, kofi annan, to come up with proposals for "a number of forward-looking and widely relevant topics", thus opening the possibility of going beyond the institutional questions of un reform. annan's report, when published in april 2000 under the title "we the peoples: the role of the united nations in the 21st century", framed the questions of un reform within the larger challenges facing the world, the chief of which was identified as "to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world’s people, instead of leaving billions of them behind in squalor". in the report annan urged the forthcoming millennium summit to adopt certain key goals and objectives on many of the issues raised in the copenhagen summit, other conferences of the 1990s, and the recently-published brahimi report on international peace and security. the millennium summit and the general assembly in september 2000 issued a millennium declaration echoing the agenda that annan had set out. this declaration did not specifically mention "millennium development goals", but it does contain the substance – and much of the same wording – as the eventual goals. a process of selecting and refining the goals from the content of the declaration continued for some time. a crucial moment here was unification between discussions under the auspices of the united nations and approaches being followed by the oecd based on "shaping the 21st century"; this unification was agreed at a meeting convened by the world bank in march 2001. in september 2001, annan presented to the general assembly a "road map towards the implementation of the united nations millennium declaration" which did contain a section specifically about "the millennium development goals", enunciating some of them in their eventual wording, and indicating the remaining issues in formulating a definitive set. david hulme and james scott note that the process of creating the mdgs was diffuse, having no single architect and "no clear start or end". they also comment that the process was driven by rich states rather than the countries that would be more the subject of mdg interventions. human capital, infrastructure and human rights the mdgs emphasized three areas: human capital, infrastructure and human rights (social, economic and political), with the intent of increasing living standards. human capital objectives include nutrition, healthcare (including child mortality, hiv/aids, tuberculosis and malaria, and reproductive health) and education. infrastructure objectives include access to safe drinking water, energy and modern information/communication technology; increased farm outputs using sustainable practices; transportation; and environment. human rights objectives include empowering women, reducing violence, increasing political voice, ensuring equal access to public services and increasing security of property rights. the goals were intended to increase an individual's human capabilities and "advance the means to a productive life". the mdgs emphasize that each nation's policies should be tailored to that country's needs; therefore most policy suggestions are general. partnership mdgs emphasize the role of developed countries in aiding developing countries, as outlined in goal eight, which sets objectives and targets for developed countries to achieve a "global partnership for development" by supporting fair trade, debt relief, increasing aid, access to affordable essential medicines and encouraging technology transfer. thus developing nations ostensibly became partners with developed nations in the struggle to reduce world poverty.(goal 8 to develop a global partnership for development) goals a poster at the united nations headquarters in new york city, new york, united states, showing the millennium development goals the mdgs were developed out of several commitments set forth in the millennium declaration, signed in september 2000. there are eight goals with 21 targets, and a series of measurable health indicators and economic indicators for each target. goal 1: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger target 1a: halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day poverty gap ratio share of poorest quintile in national consumption target 1b: achieve decent employment for women, men, and young people gdp growth per employed person employment rate proportion of employed population below $1.25 per day (ppp values) proportion of family-based workers in employed population target 1c: halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger prevalence of underweight children under five years of age proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption goal 2: achieve universal primary education target 2a: by 2015, all children can complete a full course of primary education/primary schooling, girls and boys enrollment in primary education completion of primary education goal 3: promote gender equality and empower women target 3a: eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015 ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector proportion of seats held by women in national parliament goal 4: reduce child mortality rates target 4a: reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate under-five mortality rate infant (under 1) mortality rate proportion of 1-year-old children immunized against measles goal 5: improve maternal health target 5a: reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio maternal mortality ratio proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel target 5b: achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health contraceptive prevalence rate adolescent birth rate antenatal care coverage unmet need for family planning goal 6: combat hiv/aids, malaria, and other diseases target 6a: have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of hiv/aids hiv prevalence among population aged 15–24 years condom use at last high-risk sex proportion of population aged 15–24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of hiv/aids target 6b: achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for hiv/aids for all those who need it proportion of population with advanced hiv infection with access to anti-retroviral drugs target 6c: have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases prevalence and death rates associated with malaria proportion of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets proportion of children under 5 with fever who are treated with appropriate anti-malarial drugs incidence, prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under dots (directly observed treatment short course) goal 7: ensure environmental sustainability target 7a: integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources target 7b: reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss proportion of land area covered by forest co2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 gdp (ppp) consumption of ozone-depleting substances proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits proportion of total water resources used proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected proportion of species threatened with extinction target 7c: halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and rural proportion of urban population with access to improved sanitation target 7d: by 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers proportion of urban population living in slums goal 8: develop a global partnership for development target 8a: develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction – both nationally and internationally target 8b: address the special needs of the least developed countries (ldcs) includes: tariff and quota-free access for ldc exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for hipc and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous oda (official development assistance) for countries committed to poverty reduction target 8c: address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing states through the programme of action for the