This snapshot, taken on 02/08/2004, shows web content selected for preservation by The National Archives. External links, forms and search boxes may not work in archived websites.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Last updated: July 2003

DFID's development policies and targets stem from White Papers issued in 1997 and 2000. More information about the White Papers can be found here.

Both the 1997 and 2000 White Papers reflected the commitment of the UK Government to achieving the International Development Targets. Those Targets were expanded and enshrined as the Millennium Development Goals in a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly at its Millennium Summit from 6-8 September 2000 in New York. For full information about the Millennium Summit, go here.

Note: References throughout this website to the International Development Targets (or IDTs) should now be taken as relating to the Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs).

Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

  • Target 1. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day.
  • Target 2. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Goal 2. Achieve universal primary education

  • Target 3. Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower women

  • Target 4. Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to all levels of education no later than 2015.

Goal 4. Reduce child mortality

  • Target 5. Reduce by two-thirds, by 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

Goal 5. Improve maternal health

  • Target 6. Reduce by three-quarters, by 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.

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

  • Target 7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
  • Target 8. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

Goal 7. Ensure environmental sustainability

  • Target 9. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
  • Target 10. Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.
  • Target 11. 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 12. Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. (Includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction – both nationally and internationally.)
  • Target 13. Address the special needs of the least developed countries. (Includes: tariff and quota free access for least developed countries’ exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for HIPCs and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction.)
  • Target 14. Address the special needs of landlocked countries and small island developing States (through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the outcome of the 22nd special session of the General Assembly). 
  • Target 15. 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 16. In co-operation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth. 
  • Target 17. In co-operation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries. 
  • Target 18. In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.

More information about the Millennium Development Goals can be found here.

Back to Top