The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were formalised in the Millennium Declaration “to end poverty by 2015” that was endorsed by 189 Heads of State and Government at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000.
The MDGs are an eight-point road map with clear deadlines and measurable targets for improving the lives of the poorest people in the world. They are the most comprehensive, specific, and broadly supported development goals the world has ever agreed upon.
These time-bound targets provide solid, numerical benchmarks for addressing extreme poverty in its multiple dimensions, and include goals and targets on hunger, income poverty, child and maternal mortality, disease, gender inequality, inadequate shelter, environmental degradation, and the global partnership for development.
MDG Progress
Achieving these goals through sustainable growth and advances in key areas such as health, gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability is recognised as a challenge for developed and developing countries alike. Still, there has been incredible progress on some MDGs in many countries, including: decreased extreme poverty; increased primary school enrolment; and improved access to clean water.
However, progress is highly uneven among regions, countries, and population groups. Some targets are also globally off-track owing to unpredictable events such as the international financial and economic crisis, civil wars, and climate change.
The following fact sheets analyse the progress towards the goals in one country in each of the five regions according to the most recent progress report available (between 2010 and 2015).
The Latin America and the Caribbean region has made positive progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, albeit with differences among nations associated mostly with the progressive appropriation of the goals in each country, as well as adaptation to specific circumstances. However, there was a moment of stagnation and even reversal of some positive trends, during the economic crisis, making it harder to achieve the MDG targets.
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