UN releases 2011 report on Millennium Development Goals
The United Nations today released their 2011 report on the Millennium Development Goals. According to a press release from the UN, significant strides towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been made, yet reaching all the goals by the 2015 deadline remains challenging because the world’s poorest are being left behind.
Some of the highlights of progress made towards achieving the MDGs included:
- The world as a whole is still on track to reach the poverty-reduction target, and by 2015, the global poverty rate should fall below 15 per cent – well under the 23 per cent target – despite setbacks from recent economic, food and energy crises.
- The number of deaths of children under the age of five declined from 12.4 million in 1990 to 8.1 million in 2009, which means nearly 12,000 fewer children die each day.
- Increased funding and intensive control efforts have cut deaths from malaria by 20 per cent worldwide – from nearly 985,000 in 2000 to 781,000 in 2009.
- New HIV infections have declined steadily. In 2009, some 2.6 million people were newly infected with HIV – a 21 per cent drop since 1997, when new infections peaked.
- The number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV or AIDS increased 13-fold from 2004 to 2009, thanks to increased funding and expanded programs.
- An estimated 1.1 billion people in urban areas and 723 million people in rural areas gained access to an improved drinking water source over the period 1990-2008.
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