David Alexander Clark (d.) (2006).

The Elgar Companion to

Development Studies, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. 382-389.

Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of goals for a range of develop-
ment indicators, including income poverty and child mortality, setting targets most of
which are supposed to be met by 2015. The goals have been endorsed by many govern-
ments and international agencies and are argued by some to have refocused development
efforts on the poor.

History
The MDGs were preceded by the International Development Targets (IDTs), which were
formally adopted at the Thirty-Fourth High Level Meeting of the Development
Assistance Committee (DAC) in Paris during May 1996. From the outset there was some
disquiet that these ‘international goals’ were set by an expert group in Paris. There were
two defences against this criticism. First, developing-country governments do not have to
sign up to precisely these poverty reduction goals but may adopt their own with a similar
spirit. Second, the IDTs were based on resolutions passed at international conferences,
and in this sense had already been endorsed by most developing countries.
Discontent about the origins of the IDTs manifested itself at the Millennium Summit
in New York, 6–8 September 2000, which adopted the Millennium Declaration (UN, 2000)
containing a list of goals, which overlapped with the IDTs but was not the same. A year
later the UN document, Road Map Towards the Implementation of the United Nations
Millennium Declaration (UN, 2001), laid out a finally agreed list of MDGs shown in
Table 10, which incorporates some later minor modifications.

The goals
The MDGs comprise eight goals with 18 separate targets, together with a list of 48 indi-
cators to monitor the targets. An important difference between the IDTs and MDGs is
that the eighth goal adds targets relating to the direct contribution of the developed coun-
tries to meeting the goals, with mention of aid, debt relief and tariff barriers. It is signifi-
cant that such actions (for example, debt reduction, higher aid) have been added.
However, the wording of most of these is vague (‘address . . .’, ‘deal comprehensively with
. . .’, ‘more generous . . .’ and so on), compared to the precise numerical goals for
developing-country performance, with neither quantified targets nor deadlines, thus
reflecting the unequal nature of the global partnership.
 Millennium Development Goals 383

Table 10 The Millennium Development Goals

Goals and targets Indicators

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the 1. Proportion of population below US$1 per
proportion of people whose income is less than day
one dollar a day 2. Poverty gap ratio (incidence multiplied by
depth of poverty)
3. Share of poorest quintile in national
consumption
Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the 4. Prevalence of underweight children under
proportion of people who suffer from hunger 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 6. Net enrolment ratio in primary education
everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to 7. Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who
complete a full course of primary schooling reach grade 5
8. Literacy rate of 15–24 year olds
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary 9. Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary
and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and tertiary education
and to all levels of education no later than 2015 10. Ratio of literate women to men 15–24 years
old
11. Share of women in wage employment in the
non-agricultural sector
12. Proportion of seats held by women in
national parliament
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Target 5: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 13. Under-five mortality rate
and 2015, the under-five mortality rate 14. Infant mortality rate
15. Proportion of one-year-old children
immunised against measles
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Target 6: Reduce by three-quarters, between 16. Maternal mortality ratio
1990 and 2015, the 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 18. HIV prevalence among 15–24 year-old
reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS pregnant women
19. Condom use rate of the contraceptive
prevalence rate
A. Condom use at last high-risk sex
384 Millennium Development Goals
Table 10 (continued)
Goals and targets
Target 8: Have halted by 2015 and begun to
reverse the incidence of malaria and other
major diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Target 9: Integrate the principles of
sustainable development into country policies
and programmes and reverse the loss of
environmental resources
Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of
people without sustainable access to safe
drinking water
Target 11: By 2020, to have achieved a
significant improvement in the lives of at least
100 million slum dwellers
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Target 12: Develop further an open, rule-
based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading
and financial system. Includes a commitment
to good governance, development, and poverty small island developing states
reduction – both nationally and internationally.
Indicators
B. Percentage of population aged 15–24
years with comprehensive correct
knowledge of HIV/AIDS
C. Contraceptive prevalence rate
20. Ratio of school attendance of orphans to
school attendance of non-orphans aged
10–14 years
21. Prevalence and death rates associated with
malaria
22. Proportion of population in malaria risk
areas using effective malaria prevention and
treatment measures
23. Prevalence and death rates associated with
with tuberculosis
24. Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected
and cured under DOTS (directly observed
treatment short course)
25. Proportion of land area covered by
forest
26. Ratio of area protected to maintain
biological diversity to surface area
27. Energy use (kg oil equivalent) per $1 GDP
(PPP)
28. Carbon dioxide emissions per capita and
consumption of ozone-depleting CFCs
(Ozone depleting potential tons)
29. Proportion of population using solid fuels
30. Proportion of population with
sustainable access to an improved water
source, urban and rural
31. Proportion of people with access to
improved sanitation
32. Proportion of people with access to secure
tenure
Some of the indicators listed below will be
monitored separately for the least developed
countries, Africa, landlocked countries and

Table 10 (continued)
Goals and targets
Target 13: Address the special needs of the
least developed countries. Includes:
tariff and quota free access for least developed
country exports; enhanced programme of
debt relief for relief for heavily indebted
poor countries (HIPCs) and cancellation of
official bilateral debt; and more generous official
development assistance (ODA) for countries
committed to poverty reduction.
Target 14: Address the special needs of
landlocked countries and small island
developing states (through Barbados
Programme and Twenty-Second General
Assembly provisions)
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
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
Millennium Development Goals 385
Indicators
Official Development Assistance
33. Net ODA as percentage of DAC donors’
gross national income (GNI) (targets of 0.7
per cent in total and 0.15 per cent for
least developed countries)
34. Proportion of ODA to basic social services
(basic education, primary healthcare,
nutrition, safe water and sanitation)
35. Proportion of ODA that is untied
36. ODA received in landlocked countries as
a proportion of their GNI
37. ODA received in small island developing
states as a proportion of their GNI
Market Access
38. Proportion of total developed-country
imports (by value and excluding arms) from
developing 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 GDP
41. Proportion of ODA provided to help
build trade capacity
Debt Sustainability
42. Total number of countries that have
reached their HIPC decision points and
number that have reached their completion
points (cumulative)
43. Debt relief committed under HIPC
initiative
44. Debt service as a percentage of exports of
goods and services
45. Unemployment rate of 15–24 year olds,
each sex and total
46. Proportion of population with access to
affordable essential drugs on a sustainable
basis
386 Millennium Development Goals

Table 10 (continued)

Goals and targets Indicators

Target 18: In cooperation with the private 47. Telephone lines and cellular subscribers
sector, make available the benefits of new per 100 people
communications 48. A. Personal computers per 100 people
48. B. Internet users per 100 population

Source: World Bank (2004).

Why the MDGs are important and some problems

Targets can be seen as important for a number of reasons:

1. Helping to define an organisation’s purpose. Targets can have a positive motivational

role both within and across organisations. As a prominent supporter of the MDGs,
the Department for International Development has posters that set out each target
prominently displayed in its offices worldwide. The entrance foyer of the World Bank
has a permanent display of the goals suspended from the ceiling. Where several devel-
opment organisations are working in the same area, then targets can create a sense of
common purpose across these agencies. Setting targets can be argued to have played
the role of increasing the cohesiveness of the international development community,
helping to focus the renewed attention to poverty in the 1990s, influencing both the
country allocation of development aid towards lower-income countries and the sec-
toral allocation of development programmes towards areas of priority need for the
poor (although there is debate as to what this means, some arguing that it is incor-
rectly equated with social service provision).
2. Focus on outcomes, offsetting the past tendency of performance systems to focus on
inputs, helping orientate country programme and project design to priority areas. In
the past donor agencies judged their performance based on how much money they
disbursed, whereas the MDGs imply judgement on results, the wording indicating the
link which exists between adoption of the MDGs and the current dominance of
results-based management.
3. Creating a basis for the accountability of development agencies whose performance is
to be judged on outcomes. DFID has a Public Service Agreement (a supposed ‘con-
tract with the public’) containing MDG-like goals over a shorter time frame. The
World Bank is moving towards monitoring MDG-related indicators as a basis for
performance measurement.
4. The goals create a basis for a rights-based approach, by which the governments of
developing countries can solicit international support for poverty-orientated initia-
tives, and the citizens of those countries have a basis for claiming rights to basic
health and education.
 Millennium Development Goals 387

However, focus on a single indicator can risk distorting programmes or sacrificing

quality. For example, achieving the goal of universal primary education may mean getting
more children into already overcrowded classrooms, with few materials and poorly moti-
vated teachers, thus meeting the target for quantity at the expense of the quality of edu-
cation. Meanwhile, achieving the target of having a national strategy for sustainable
development does not mean that this strategy is implemented. Indeed, the resources put
into developing a formal strategy may well divert resources from existing activities that
are actually promoting sustainability.
Moreover, performance targets may simplify problems, focusing on what is identifiable
and measurable while ignoring what really matters but is more complex. The complexity
and multidimensionality of poverty is well understood. Even if a target is well identified
it may have adverse organisational effects by discouraging innovation. Managers are likely
to rely on tried and tested methods where there is a clear target to be achieved, rather than
risk missing that targets by trying out a new approach. Targets may also undermine other
forms of accountability. In the bid to satisfy performance criteria, particular problems or
interests may be missed. Moreover, the focus on outcomes may deflect attention from the
costs borne in achieving those outcomes, so that the efficiency focus of traditional man-
agement systems is lost.
Use of performance targets requires good data, which is unfortunately not always avail-
able for many MDG indicators, especially in low-income countries where monitoring is
most important.
Finally, critics point out that development goals are not new. There have been many in
the past which have long passed their target dates with scant if any progress towards the
goal being met. What, they ask, is different about the MDGs? Defenders can answer that
the MDGs appear to command broader international support than has been the case for
previous targets and that, driven by the results agenda, agencies are genuinely using the
goals to make a difference to how they do their work.

Progress toward goals

Progress toward the MDGs is mixed. Some countries, particularly those in East Asia , are
well on track to meet the targets – and in some cases have already done so. But many
others, notably in Sub-Saharan Africa, have made insufficient progress and are very
unlikely to reach the targets. The former centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe
experienced sharp declines in GDP, deterioration of social service provision and declin-
ing real transfers in the 1990s with a consequent increase in poverty and higher mortality.
These countries may well not meet the goals, although in East Asia, the formerly
centrally-planned economies of China and Vietnam are among the strongest performers.
Experience is also mixed by goal (see Table 11). Most countries are expected to achieve
gender equality in schools and nearly two-thirds may attain the targets for access to water,
and primary school completion. But close to half will not attain the target for maternal
mortality and almost as many will fail to attain those for under-five mortality.

What will it take to reach the goals?

Issues underlying achieving the MDGs include (i) to what extent will the goals be met
by relying on economic growth alone, or is government-backed social spending also
388 Millennium Development Goals

Table 11 Progress towards the MDGs

Likely Possible Unlikely Very unlikely No data Total

Number of countries
Child malnutrition 23 11 5 21 92 153
Primary school completion 45 28 19 16 44 153
Gender equality in school 75 14 10 9 45 153
Child mortality 31 43 30 21 29 153
Maternal mortality 31 27 20 31 44 153
HIV/AIDS prevalence 38 11 13 22 69 153
Access to water 22 15 19 0 97 153
As percentage of countries with data
Child malnutrition 38 19 9 35 100
Primary school completion 42 26 18 15 100
Gender equality in school 69 13 9 8 100
Child mortality 25 35 24 17 100
Maternal mortality 28 25 19 28 100
HIV/AIDS prevalence 45 14 15 26 100
Access to water 39 27 34 0 100

Source: Carvalho (2003, pp. 63–4).

required? (ii) how to build political will, and (iii) ensuring adequate government systems
are in place.
Realistic projections of likely growth rates for most developing countries, or even opti-
mistic ones, imply a shortfall in meeting many of the targets, with few met in the poorest
countries where the need is greatest. The conclusion from this point may be either to
further accelerate growth or to strengthen channels for better social outcomes independ-
ent of growth. Some would argue that the growth approach has been pursued for the last
two decades, or longer, and proved to provide an inadequate social return. But others
would respond that where growth performance is poor, the right policies (whatever they
may be, but most holding this position claim them to be a market-based open economy
with a democratic political system) have yet to be properly implemented.
The call for greater social spending assumes that governments will be willing to do this,
usually diverting resources from activities that benefit the better-off to ones benefiting the
less well-off. Such policies may prove difficult to implement for political reasons, even
where there is the will to do so. When politics are not a constraint then the capacity to
implement may be, especially if the required policies require an expansion in service deliv-
ery at local level. In the short run, funds may have to be devoted to capacity development,
rather than actual service delivery.

Conclusion
The MDGs are the latest in a long line of development targets, which have a sorry history
as failed promises. There is, however, reason for optimism that the new goals are being
taken more seriously and having an impact on how some development agencies do their
 Missing women 389

business – DFID is probably the leader in this respect, but others are coming into line.
But, the statement of a goal is not the same as a strategy as to how to reach it. The adop-
tion of the MDGs has not resolved debates at the centre of development policy, leaving
considerable room for disagreement as to how the goals might best be met.
HOWARD WHITE

References and further reading

Black, Richard and Howard White (2004), Targeting Development: Critical Perspectives on the Millennium
Development Goals, London and New York: Routledge.
Carvalho, Soniya (2003), 2002 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness: Achieving Development Outcomes:
The Millennium Challenge, Washington, DC: World Bank, http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/oed/oeddoclib.
nsf/DocUNIDViewForJavaSearch/57BCB3B42521CBAE85256CDE006DEC0D/$file/ARDE_2002.pdf, 22
February 2005.
UN (2000), United Nations Millennium Declaration, Document A/RES/55/2, New York: United Nations, www.
un.org/millennium/declaration/ares 552e.pdf.
UN (2001), Road Map Towards the Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration: Report of the
Secretary-General, Document A/56/326, New York: United Nations.
World Bank (2004), ‘About the Goals’, www.developmentgoals.org/About_the_goals.htm, 17 December 2004.