July 2007 marks the halfway point for the Millennium Development Goals, a set of 8 targets to help the world’s poorest countries develop. Seven and a half years ago, 189 nations around the world signed the Millennium Declaration, which states that leaders “have a collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level.” These signatory nations also set eight specific targets for the year 2015, known collectively as the Millennium Development Goals.
How are we doing at this mid-point check in?

Goal 1: Between 1990 and 2015, halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and who live on less than one dollar a day.

Assessment: Hunger is decreasing around the world, but progress is uneven. Eastern Asia has reduced hunger dramatically, but Sub-Saharan Africa and Western Asia are not on track to meet the 2015 goals.

Goal 2: Ensure that by 2015, all boys and girls will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

The UN’s annual MDG monitoring report was released today.

This year’s stocktaking report is especially significant since 2007 is “halftime” for the MDGs, midway between the agreement to the Millennium Declaration by 189 nations in 2000, and the 2015 deadline for MDG achievement.

While it is true that no one Goal is projected to be on track across all regions, and progress in sub-Saharan Africa needs to accelerate across the board to meet the 2015 targets, I want to point out some very impressive indicators of progress, particularly since 2000.

Progress is being made in virtually all the Goals across all regions.  Even more significant is that the post-2000 period has seen major gains, indicating that the MDG compact has sparked a seriousness of effort that is bearing fruit.  In many cases, progress between 2000 and 2005 was greater than progress in the whole of the 1990s, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.