11 Facts About Millennium Development Goals

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1. The Millennium Declaration is a commitment signed by 189 world leaders in 2000 to work together to build a safer, more prosperous, and equitable world.^[UN General Assembly. "United Nations Millennium Declaration." Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly, 2000. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
2. The Declaration set up a map of 8 time-bound goals to achieve by 2015, which are now known as the Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs).^[UN General Assembly. "United Nations Millennium Declaration." Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly, 2000. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
3. Worldwide, 1.2 billion people earn less than $1.25 a day. The UN hopes to end poverty by cutting this number in half.^[Department of Economic and Social Affairs. "Rethinking Poverty Report on the World Social Situation 2010 Chapter 2 Poverty: the official numbers." United Nations, 2010. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
4. MDG strives to promote gender equality. Women currently hold 19% of the seats in parliament. The goal is to empower women and eliminate gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015.^[United Nations. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013." United Nations, 2013. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
5. In a developing nation, a child with an uneducated mother is twice as likely to die as a child with an educated mother. One goal is to reduce child mortality by two-thirds.^[United Nations. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013." United Nations, 2013. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
6. Maternal deaths are especially common in developing nations. 34% of them are due to hemorrhaging; by 2015, the UN aims to reduce these deaths by 75%.^[UN General Assembly. "United Nations Millennium Declaration." Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly, 2000. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
7. Almost 70% of people living with HIV worldwide live in sub-Saharan Africa. The goal is to cut the growth of HIV by 50%.^[United Nations. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013." United Nations, 2013. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
8. The percent of underweight children in developing countries dropped from 28% in 1990 to 17% in 2011.^[United Nations. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011." United Nations, 2011. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
9. The world met the United Nations Millennium Development Goals target on access to safe drinking water, but more progress has to be made in sanitation.^[United Nations. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013." United Nations, 2013. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
10. Some countries have made great progress with health-related targets. The countries falling behind are those affected by high cases of HIV/AIDS, economic hardship, and conflict.^[United Nations. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013." United Nations, 2013. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]
11. Thanks to continued commitment to the MDGs, cases of tuberculosis are declining, including non-HIV positive tuberculosis patients as well.^[United Nations. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013." United Nations, 2013. Web Accessed April 29, 2014.]