The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) most succinctly describes the Millennium Development Goals in terms of their specific targets, which:

  • synthesise, in a single package, many of the most important commitments made separately at the international conferences and summits of the 1990s;
  • recognize explicitly the interdependence between growth, poverty reduction and sustainable development;
  • acknowledge that development rests on the foundations of democratic governance, the rule of law, respect for human rights and peace and security;
  • are based on time-bound and measurable targets accompanied by indicators for monitoring progress; and
  • bring together, in the eighth Goal, the responsibilities of developing countries with those of developed countries, founded on a global partnership endorsed at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico in March 2002, and again at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002.

Functionally, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals which nations of the world have contractually pledge to cooperatively achieve by 2015 that respond to the world's main development and humanitarian challenges.

UNDP Global Progress Report

The MDGs are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 189 nations-and signed by 147 heads of state and governments during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000.

The eight MDGs break down from 8 general Goals in to 21 quantifiable targets. The targets are explained on the pages dedicated to each Goal, please explore each one by clicking on the links below.