What are the Millennium Development Goals?  How do they relate to engineering actions to reduce poverty?  

The following information is taken directly from the World Bank information on the Millennium Development Goals.  http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org/ext/MDG/homePages.do

The Millennium Development Goals commit the international community to an expanded vision of development, one that vigorously promotes human development as the key to sustaining social and economic progress in all countries, and recognizes the importance of creating a global partnership for development. The goals have been commonly accepted as a framework for measuring development progress.

Many of the targets of the MDGs were first set out by international conferences and summits held in the 1990s. They were later compiled and became known as the International Development Goals. (For a review of progress on the International Development Goals see www.paris21.org/betterworld.) In September 2000 the member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the Millennium Declaration. Following consultations among international agencies, including the World Bank, the IMF, the OECD, and the specialized agencies of the United Nations, the General Assembly recognized the Millennium Development Goals as part of the road map for implementing the Millennium Declaration.

The UN Secretary-General issues a yearly report on progress toward implementation of the Millennium Declaration, including the MDGs, based on information drawn from across the UN system (see "Research and Country Studies"). The first comprehensive review is planned for 2005.

Achieving the MDGs by 2015 will require more focus on development outcomes and less on inputs, to effectively measure national progress towards meeting the MDGs, and to engage even more closely with our partners in helping governments improve human development. The goals establish yardsticks for measuring results, not just for developing countries but for rich countries that help to fund development programs and for the multilateral institutions that help countries implement them. The first seven goals are mutually reinforcing and are directed at reducing poverty in all its forms. The last goal - global partnership for development - is about the means to achieve the first seven. Many of the poorest countries will need additional assistance and must look to the rich countries to provide it. Countries that are poor and heavily indebted will need further help in reducing their debt burdens. And all countries will benefit if trade barriers are lowered, allowing a freer exchange of goods and services. 

For the poorest countries many of the goals seem far out of reach. Even in better-off countries there may be regions or groups that lag behind. Countries need to set their own strategies and work, together with the global partners, to ensure that poor people are included in the benefits of development. 

To view the full United Nations document on Millennium Development Goals definitions, sources and methodology, click here.

A complete listing of the goals, targets, and indicators for MDGs

Goals and targets

       Indicators

Goal 1 - Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day 

1. Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) a day ^a

1a. Poverty headcount ratio (percentage of population below national poverty line) *

2.  Poverty gap ratio  (incidence x depth of poverty)

3.  Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

4.  Prevalence of underweight in children (under five years of age)

5.  Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

Goal 2 - Achieve universal primary education

Target 3: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

              6.  Net enrollment ratio in primary education

             7a. Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5 ^b

            7b. Primary completion rate*

8.  Literacy rate of 15 to 24-year-olds

Goal 3 - Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015

9.  Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary, and tertiary education

10. Ratio of literate women to men ages 15- to 24

11. Share of women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector

12. Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Goal 4 - Reduce child mortality

Target 5: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

13. Under-five mortality rate

14. Infant mortality rate

15. Proportion of one-year-old children immunized against measles

Goal 5 - Improve maternal health

Target 6: Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

              16. Maternal mortality ratio

17. Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Goal 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

Target 7: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

18. HIV prevalence among pregnant women ages 15- to 24

19. Condom use rate of the contraceptive prevalence rate ^c*

19a.Condom use at last high-risk sex*

19b.Percentage of 15-24-year-olds with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS ^d*

19c.Contraceptive prevalence rate 

20. Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance on non-orphans ages 10-14

 Target 8: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

21. Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria

22. Proportion of population in malaria-risk areas using effective malaria prevention and treatment measures ^e

23. Prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis

24. Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under directly observed treatment short course (DOTS)

Goal 7 - Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 9: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and program and reverse the loss of environmental resources

25. Proportion of land area covered by forest

26. Ratio of area protected to maintain biological diversity to surface area

27. Energy use (kilograms of oil equivalent) per $1 GDP (PPP)

28. Carbon dioxide emissions (per capita) and consumption of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (ODP tons) 29. Proportion of population using solid fuels*

Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

30. Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and rural

31. Proportion of population with access to improved sanitation, urban and rural

Target 11: Have achieved, by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

       32. Proportion of households with access to secure tenure 

Goal 8 - Develop a global partnership for development

Target 12: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system (includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction—both nationally and internationally)

Some of the indicators listed below will be monitored separately for the least developed countries, Africa, landlocked countries, and small island developing states.

       Official development assistance

33. Net ODA  total and to the least developed countries, as a percentage of OECD/DAC donors' gross national income

34. Proportion of bilateral, sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors for basic social services (basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water, and sanitation)

35. Proportion of bilateral official development assistance ODA of OECD/DAC donors  that is untied

36. ODA received in landlocked countries as proportion of their gross national incomes 

37. ODA received in small island developing states as proportion of their gross national incomes

Target 13: Address the special needs of the least developed countries (includes tariff-and quota-free access for exports enhanced program of debt relief for HIPC and cancellation of official bilateral debt, and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction)

Target 14: Address the special needs of landlocked countries and small island developing states (through the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and 22nd General Assembly provisions)

      Market access

38. Proportion of total developed country imports (by value and excluding arms) from developing countries and from least developed countries, admitted free of duty

39. Average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products and textiles and clothing from developing countries

40. Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries as a percentage of their gross domestic product

41. Proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity 

 Target 15: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term

       Debt sustainability 

42. Total number of countries that have reached their HIPC decision points and number that have reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative) 

43. Debt relief committed under HIPC initiative 

44. Debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services

Target 16: In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth

Target 17: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries

Target 18: In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

     Other

45. Unemployment rate of 15- to 24-year-olds, male and female and total  ^f

46. Proportion of population with access to affordable, essential drugs on a sustainable basis

47. Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 population

48a.Personal computers in use per 100 population 

48b.Internet users per 100 population

* These indicators are proposed as additional MDG indicators, but have not yet been adopted.

(a) For monitoring country poverty trends, indicators based on national poverty lines should be used, where available.

(b) An alternative indicator under development is “primary completion rate.”

(c) Among contraceptive methods, only condoms are effective in preventing HIV transmission. Since the condom use rate is only measured among women in union, it is supplemented by an indicator on condom use in high-risk situations (indicator 19a) and an indicator on HIV/AIDS knowledge (indicator 19b). Indicator 19c (contraceptive prevalence rate) is also useful in tracking progress in other health, gender, and poverty goals.

(d) This indicator is defined as the percentage of 15- to 24-year-olds who correctly identify the two major ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV (using condoms and limiting sex to one faithful, uninfected partner), who reject the two most common local misconceptions about HIV transmission, and who know that a healthy-looking person can transmit HIV. However, since there are currently not a sufficient number of surveys to be able to calculate the indicator as defined above, UNICEF, in  collaboration with UNAIDS and WHO, produced two proxy indicators that represent two components of the actual indicator. They are the percentage of women and men ages 15–24 who know that a person can protect herself from HIV infection by “consistent use of condom,” and the percentage of women and men ages 15–24 who know a healthy-looking person can transmit HIV.

(e) Prevention to be measured by the percentage of children under age five sleeping under insecticide-treated; treatment to be measured by percentage of children under age five who are appropriately treated.

(f) An improved measure of the target for future years is under development by the International Labour Organization. 

HYPER LINKS: About the Goals | Partners | Data | Achieving the Goals | Capacity Building | Research & Country Studies

HYPER-LINKS to Goals: Poverty | Education | Gender Equality | Child Mortality | Maternal Mortality
HIV/AIDS, other diseases | Environment | Global Partnership

HYPER-LINKS to Regions: East Asia & the Pacific | Europe & Central Asia | Middle East & North Africa
Latin America & the Caribbean | South Asia | Sub-Saharan Africa

(Note that this information is: Last update April 2005 with data from WDI 2005)