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3.5 Millennium Development Goals
3.5.1 Creation of the Millennium Development Goals
(2000–2015)
Over many decades the United Nations and its constituent organizations (see Sect.
6.2.2) have explored many aspects of development and environmental deterioration.
For many decades, such events produced speeches and grand goals, but limited follow through and impact. In the 1990s, more effective work before and after UN
meetings, and the growing power of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
resulted in greater follow through.
In 1996, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
which brings wealthier, more developed countries together (then 24, now 35),
released a list of International Development Goals (IDGs) derived mainly from various UN summits. While many OECD member countries did little to follow up on
the IDGs, they were advanced as the basis of a significant development agenda to be
adopted at the 2000 Millennium Assembly of the United Nations along with targets
and indicators (metrics) that would quantify progress.
In September 2000, a Millennium Declaration was adopted by the 189 members
of the UN General Assembly. The Declaration included language on development
goals somewhat different from the OECD’s IDGs.
In 2001, the two sets of goals were merged by a working group of individuals
from the UN, OECD, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund into a list of
eight formal Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with targets and metrics
(called indicators) that had primarily been developed for the IDGs. The eight MDGs,
approved at a 2002 Finance for Development Conference with a target date of 2015,
were as follows:
1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. To achieve universal primary education
3. To promote gender equality and empower women
4. To reduce child mortality
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. To ensure environmental sustainability
8. To develop a global partnership for development
Food, an explicit component of MDG 1, was given Target 1.B, to “halve, between
1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.” Two metrics
were ultimately adopted to measure progress toward this target:
1.8 Prevalence of underweight children under five years of age
1.9 Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption
The two metrics for food address aspects of utilization: one broad (dietary energy
consumption) and one specific to a vulnerable population (underweight children
under 5 years of age).
P. Saundry and B. L. Ruddell
3.5 Millennium Development Goals
3.5.1 Creation of the Millennium Development Goals
(2000–2015)
Over many decades the United Nations and its constituent organizations (see Sect.
6.2.2) have explored many aspects of development and environmental deterioration.
For many decades, such events produced speeches and grand goals, but limited follow through and impact. In the 1990s, more effective work before and after UN
meetings, and the growing power of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
resulted in greater follow through.
In 1996, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
which brings wealthier, more developed countries together (then 24, now 35),
released a list of International Development Goals (IDGs) derived mainly from various UN summits. While many OECD member countries did little to follow up on
the IDGs, they were advanced as the basis of a significant development agenda to be
adopted at the 2000 Millennium Assembly of the United Nations along with targets
and indicators (metrics) that would quantify progress.
In September 2000, a Millennium Declaration was adopted by the 189 members
of the UN General Assembly. The Declaration included language on development
goals somewhat different from the OECD’s IDGs.
In 2001, the two sets of goals were merged by a working group of individuals
from the UN, OECD, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund into a list of
eight formal Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with targets and metrics
(called indicators) that had primarily been developed for the IDGs. The eight MDGs,
approved at a 2002 Finance for Development Conference with a target date of 2015,
were as follows:
1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. To achieve universal primary education
3. To promote gender equality and empower women
4. To reduce child mortality
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. To ensure environmental sustainability
8. To develop a global partnership for development
Food, an explicit component of MDG 1, was given Target 1.B, to “halve, between
1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.” Two metrics
were ultimately adopted to measure progress toward this target:
1.8 Prevalence of underweight children under five years of age
1.9 Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption
The two metrics for food address aspects of utilization: one broad (dietary energy
consumption) and one specific to a vulnerable population (underweight children
under 5 years of age).
P. Saundry and B. L. Ruddell