Millennium Development Goals 

Halve world poverty by 2015

In 2000, 189 United Nations’ member states, including Australia, signed the Millennium Declaration that aimed to halve world poverty by 2015. From this declaration came the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).   As an agency, Caritas Australia is committed to working towards achieving these goals through its development projects.

Although significant progress has been made on the goals, there are still one billion people living on less than US$1 per day, and more than 820 million people going to bed hungry every single night.  The international community must act now to ensure the MDGs are met by 2015.

The Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and those who suffer from hunger by 2015
Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015

2. Achieve universal primary education
Ensure that all children complete primary school by 2015

3. Promote gender equality and empower women
Ensure girls have the same access to schooling as boys by 2015

4. Reduce child mortality
Cut infant and child deaths by two thirds by 2015

5. Improve maternal health
Reduce by three-quarters the proportion of women dying in childbirth by 2015

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases by 2015
Begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases by 2015

7. Ensure environmental sustainability
Halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015
Transform the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020
Reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015

8. Secure a global partnership for development
Address trade, debt, aid, public health and technology issues to promote economic growth and poverty reduction by 2015

Read what Caritas Internationalis says about the Millennium Development goals.

Learn more about Making Poverty History