The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals set by the Millennium Summit of the United nations in 2000 AD. All 189 member countries at that time (now 193 member countries) committed to help achieve these goals by 2015 AD. There are eight goals with 21 targets, and a series of measurable health indicators and economic indicators for each target. The eight goals of Millennium Development Goal are (i) To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (ii) To achieve universal primary education (iii) To promote gender equality and empower women (iv) To reduce child mortality (v) To improve maternal health (vi) To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases (vii) To ensure environmental sustainability and (viii) To develop a global partnership for development. The details goals and its target are given below

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

  • Target 1A: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day
  • Target 1B: Achieve Decent Employment for Women, Men, and Young People
  • Target 1C: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

  • Target 2A: By 2015, all children can complete a full course of primary schooling, girls and boys

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

  • Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rates

  • Target 4A: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

  • Target 5A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
  • Target 5B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

  • Target 6A: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
  • Target 6B: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it
  • Target 6C: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

  • Target 7A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources
  • Target 7B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
  • Target 7C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
  • Target 7D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers

Goal 8:Develop a global partnership for development

  • Target 8A: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system
  • Target 8B: Address the Special Needs of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
  • Target 8C: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing States
  • Target 8D: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term
  • Target 8E: In co-operation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries
  • Target 8F: In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

You can download millennium development goals reports from here.

You can check Nepal’s progress in achieving these goals here.