Released on 7 July, the Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 will present the most updated assessment of progress towards the MDGs. It will be a key resource for the political debates at ECOSOC and the General Assembly in September, when Member States will assess what has worked and what needs to be done to bridge existing gaps.
Since they were first adopted, the eight Millennium Development Goals have raised awareness, generated important development gains and shaped a broad vision that remains the overarching framework for the development activities of the United Nations.
At the 2010 Summit last year, world leaders met again to reaffirm their commitment to the MDGs. They put forward an ambitious action plan to fight poverty – a roadmap outlining what is needed to meet the goals by 2015. But, as said by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “the Action Agenda will only deliver results when concrete steps are taken”.
Based on the latest available data, the report presents an assessment of where actions and interventions have delivered the necessary results and highlights the areas where progress needs to be accelerated if the targets are to be met by the 2015 deadline.
Achievements and remaining challenges
Already the MDGs have helped lift millions of people out of poverty, save countless children’s lives and ensure that they attend school. They have reduced the burden of maternal deaths and increased access to clean water.
But a number of challenges remain. At the 2010 Summit on the MDGs, world leaders acknowledged the challenges posed by multiple crises, increasing inequalities and persistent violent conflicts.
They called for intensified collective action and the expansion of successful approaches and stressed that accelerated action on the goals requires economic growth that is sustainable, inclusive and equitable – growth that enables everyone to benefit from progress and share in economic opportunities.
And, in the words of Sha Zukang, DESA’s Under-Secretary-General, the achievement of the MDGs will also “require a rejuvenated global partnership, expeditious delivery on commitments already made, and an agile transition to a more sustainable future”.
Looking behind average figures
Given the way the MDG framework is designed and targets are defined, average figures may indicate progress even when disparities persist. Even where growth is strong, the benefits are not always evenly shared. Progress often bypasses the poor and marginalized populations, and is slower for rural populations than for urban dwellers. The gap between urban and rural areas often widens, as does the difference in living standards between the prosperous and various marginalized groups.
The report, while providing an assessment of trends overall, looks behind the average figures to highlight differences among various groups of the population and identify the segments that are lagging behind and for whom most urgent interventions are needed.
Rigorous international collaboration to measure goals
Progress towards the eight Millennium Development Goals is measured through 21 targets and 60 official indicators. The report is the result of an intensively collaborative effort, led by the Statistics Division of DESA. It involves 27 international organizations and agencies and a group of representatives of national statistical systems, who meet every year to review the tools to compile and analyse the necessary data. These data are drawn from national statistics provided by Governments to the international statistical system and adjusted for comparability.
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 is the seventh of a series launched in 2005, in conjunction with the MDG Summit. The report has quickly become, as Assistant Secretary-General Jomo Kwame Sundaram noted, “the authoritative reference for the international community to monitor progress – or otherwise – towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals as well as its targets and indicators. The vast inter-agency team behind this Report are to be commended for this vital resource for everyone seeking to enhance progress towards meeting these basic needs”.
The MDG Report 2011 will be available at the official UN website for the MDG Indicators on 7 July. Earlier editions of the report as well as underlying data series on all official MDG indicators are also available at the same site: http://mdgs.un.org
For more information: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/index.shtml
