MDG Indicators Rss Feed

MDG Database 2009 update - NEW!

You can view or download data on the MDG indicators by selecting "Country Level Data" from the drop-down menu on our website.

MDG Report 2009 launched - NEW!

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009 was launched in Geneva by the Secretary-General on 6 July. The report, which presents the yearly assessment of global progress towards the MDGs, is prepared by the Statistics Division of DESA on the basis of inputs provided by the members of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators. Less than six years away from the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the report warns that despite many successes, overall progress has been too slow for most of the targets to be met by 2015. And major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have begun to slow or even reverse as a result of the global economic and food crises.

The Report is also available in French and Spanish and will soon become available in the other UN official languages.

MDG Progress Chart 2009 - NEW!

Most of the targets set for progress on the Millennium Development Goals are benchmarked for the period 1990 to 2015 — promising clear and measurable improvement on standards prevailing in 1990 by the end of 2015. The MDG Progress Chart 2009 provides an assessment of progress as of June 2009 towards a number of the key targets relating to each Goal.

MDGInfo 2009 available online!

MDGInfo 2009 is available online. This database system is designed for the compilation and presentation of development indicators to support data users in their MDG monitoring. The MDG goals and targets are imbedded in the system linked to the MDG indicators in a goal monitoring framework.

MDGInfo has been adapted from DevInfo and presents country-level statistics available as of July 2009 for the global monitoring of progress achieved towards the MDGs since 1990.

Click here for the online version of MDGInfo 2009

To obtain further information please contact statistics@un.org.

MDG Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment - Progress Chart 2008

This progress chart presents data on some of the gender dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The third of the MDGs calls explicitly for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women. But each of the other goals has a gender dimension to it and gender equality is indispensable for achieving all goals. This chart is meant to show trends in some of the MDGs through a gender sensitive lens.

MDG Report 2008

On 11 September 2008, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008. This report was one of the key inputs for the High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals held on 25 September 2008.

The Report is the most comprehensive global assessment of progress as of August 2008. It is based on work carried out by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on the official MDG Indicators. It provides hard evidence for each of the eight MDGs, showing what has been accomplished so far in each of the world’s major geographic regions. It outlines what the world needs to do to succeed by 2015. The Report may be accessed in the other UN official languages.

An addendum to the Report reflects the data on global poverty released by the World Bank after the publication of the Report. These show that the number of extremely poor people in the world fell from 1.8 billion in 1990 to 1.4 billion in 2005 and that the proportion of extremely poor people fell from 41.7 per cent to 25.7 per cent over the same period. If progress continues at this pace until 2015, the world will achieve the overarching Goal of reducing extreme poverty by half.

MDG Progress Charts 2008

The Declaration established 2015 as the target date for achievement of most of its quantifiable commitments. Half the period to this target date has now passed. The Progress Chart provides an assessment of progress towards a number of the key targets relating to each Goal. Trends are assessed on the basis of data between 1990 and the most recent year for which information was available as of June 2008, when this chart was prepared.

Global and regional data, as contained in the Millennium Development Goals Report 2008, help in measuring progress towards the Goals, but such aggregate statistics mask disparities among countries. The Progress Chart 2008 - Country Progress Within Regions groups countries within each region according to their degree of progress towards the achievement of the Goals. The assessment is based on statistics from 1990 until the latest year for which data are available.

Africa and the Millennium Development Goals - 2007 Update

This newly published brief notes that at the midway point between the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 and the 2015 target date to achieve them, sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to achieve any of the Goals.

Although there have been major gains in several areas and the Goals remain achievable in most African nations, even the best governed countries on the continent have not been able to make sufficient progress in reducing extreme poverty in its many forms, some of which are outlined in the brief.

The brief includes excerpts of statistical analysis and charts from the Millennium Development Goals Report 2007, scheduled to launch later this month, and is based on the most up-to-date and comprehensive statistics available on global and regional MDG progress.

DSG unveils Millennium Development Goals publication at midway point to 2015

As G8 leaders are expected to discuss Africa during this week's summit in Germany, a new UN-published brief (full text) notes that sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to achieve any of the Millennium Development Goals.

The brief was unveiled to the media on 6 June 2007 by Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro who told reporters that all of the challenges can be addressed using resources, skills and technologies that the international community has at its disposal, based on the commitments made by African Governments and the donor community alike (press conference summary).

It is now the midway point between the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 and the 2015 target date for achieving them.

A full description of the goals is available on the UN web site.

There are some positive indicators to note as well.

The brief says that "while it is well known that the continent is the only region in the world where the number of extreme poor has risen over the past fifteen years, it may be less well known that African countries have experienced major improvements in key development fundamentals" and goes on to list some improvements and success stories.

Statistical analysis and charts in the publication are an advance excerpt from The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007, which is scheduled to come out later this month, and based on the most up-to-date and comprehensive statistics available on global and regional MDG progress.

More than 20 UN funds, programmes and agencies and other international organizations, including the World Bank and the OECD, contribute to this annual report, which is coordinated and published by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division.

MDGs 2006 Progress Chart

Most of the targets set for progress on the Millennium Development Goals are benchmarked for the period 1990 to 2015 – promising clear and measurable improvement on standards prevailing in 1990 by the end of 2015. The chart shows progress up to June 2006, drawing on the latest information from all countries of the world and from the UN family of operational agencies.