Every year the UN Development Program crunches the available data on health and development and tracks progress against each of the eight Millennium Development Goals.
Earlier this week, the United Nations released its final “progress report” on the MDGs. With just a few months to go before the MDGs expire, the trend lines are looking good.
Not all of the goals will be met. But the progress against the pathologies of extreme poverty have been unrelenting since the launch of the MDGs 15 years ago.
But don’t just take my word for it. Here are 7 humanity-affirming charts from the MDG progress report.
Extreme poverty has plummeted worldwide…
And there has been progress in every region.
More children are in school than ever before…
And that includes girls.
There’s been substantial progress in reducing child mortality.
Access to anti retroviral treatments has expanded massively. And the numbers of AIDS related deaths and new HIV infections are on the decline.
The global target for access to safe drinking water was met…five years ahead of schedule.
The eight goals will expire at the end of this year, to be replaced by 17 Sustainable Development Goals that will drive the international development agenda until 2030. The progress that we have seen with the MDGs is a profound demonstration that setting international goals can help marshall political and financial resources to uplift the human condition.