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With only six years until the 2015 deadline, donor countries are falling short in meeting aid commitments made in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and aid is likely to drop even further as a result of the negative economic climate, according to the UN progress report Millennium Development Goals Report 2009. There has been significant progress, but there are also important areas where the world is falling behind in efforts to achieve these goals.
Highlights of the report:
- Many global gains were due to a dramatic fall in poverty rates in East Asia. Elsewhere, progress has been slower. Sub-Saharan Africa counted 100 million more extremely poor people in 2005 than in 1990, and the poverty rate remained above 50 per cent.
- Developing countries and their partners have made significant strides in the fight against poverty and hunger, but the unprecedented economic crisis threatens to wipe out these gains. Progress towards the goals is now threatened by sluggish — or even negative — economic growth, diminished resources, fewer trade opportunities for the developing countries, and possible reductions in aid flows from donor nations.
- Major advances in the fight against extreme poverty from 1990 to 2005, for example, are likely to have stalled. During that period, the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day decreased from 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion. In 2009, an estimated 55 million to 90 million more people will be living in extreme poverty than anticipated before the crisis.
- The encouraging trend in the eradication of hunger since the early 1990s was reversed in 2008, largely due to higher food prices.
- The crisis is having a disproportionate impact on women and children. Meagre progress on child nutrition from 1990 to 2007 is insufficient to meet the 2015 target, and will likely be eroded by higher food prices and economic turmoil.
- The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly apparent, with a potentially devastating impact on countries rich and poor.
- Aid levels - at the Gleneagles summit of the Group of Eight in 2005, and at the UN World Summit later that year, donors committed to increasing their aid. With most OECD economies in recession, even fulfilment of those commitments, which were expressed as a percentage of donors’ national income, would imply a diminished amount of aid. For many developing countries, lower levels of aid would not only impede further progress, but could reverse some of the gains already made.
Significant areas of progress towards the goals
- Those living in extreme poverty in the developing regions accounted for slightly more than a quarter of the developing world’s population in 2005, compared to almost half in 1990.
- Major accomplishments were also made in education. In the developing world as a whole, enrolment in primary education reached 88 per cent in 2007, up from 83 per cent in 2000. And most of the progress was in regions lagging the furthest behind.
- Deaths of children under five declined steadily worldwide — to around 9 million in 2007, down from 12.6 million in 1990
- key interventions include the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets that have reduced the infection rate of malaria – a major killer of children.
Where progress needs to be accelerated
- Greater political will must be mustered to reduce maternal mortality, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, where negligible progress has been made so far.
- Rapid acceleration of progress is needed to bring improved sanitation to the 1.4 billion people who were doing without in 2006.
- The report calls on governments and all stakeholders to revitalize efforts to provide productive and decent employment for all, including women and young people. It points out that employment opportunities for women in Southern Asia,Northern Africa and Western Asia remain extremely low.
- The target of eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 has already been missed. The report urges governments to intensify efforts to get all children into school, especially those living in rural communities,and eliminate inequalities in education based on gender and ethnicity.
- Slum improvements are barely keeping pace with the rapid growth of developing country cities.
- Issues brought about by the global economic situation have their greatest impact on those least able to cope. There needs to be increased attention to aid levels, and to the impact of the crisis on food prices and on trade opportunities for the least developed countries.
Secretary-General Ban concludes that, “Rather than retreat, now is the time to accelerate progress towards the MDGs and to strengthen the global partnership for development. Managing the economic crisis can – and should – be turned into an opportunity to make the structural changes needed to forge a path towards equitable development and sustainability, including addressing the climate change problem. Nothing less than the viability of our planet and the future of humanity are at stake.”
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