About the Millennium Development Goals:

In 2000, 189 nations made a promise to free people from extreme poverty and multiple deprivations. The MDG goals and targets are based on the UN Millennium Declaration, and the UN General Assembly has approved them as part of the Secretary General's road map towards implementing the Declaration. For each MDG, one or more targets have been set, using 1990 as a benchmark and 2015 as the target date. In September 2010, the world recommitted itself to accelerate progress towards these goals:
Goals :

    • Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
    • Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
    • Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
    • Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
    • Goal 5: Improve maternal health
    • Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
    • Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
    • Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Bangladesh and MDGs

The Government of Bangladesh is committed to achieve the MDGs within the given timeframe. The recently approved Sixth Five Year Plan (2011-2015) titled” Accelerating Growth and Reducing Poverty” has laid out the operational details on the country’s endeavor to move forward with a view to achieving the “Vision 2021” of the Government. The Plan has integrated the Millennium Development Goals within the broader agenda of the economic and social targets. The Sixth Plan has adopted a holistic approach to reduce poverty and improve other social indicators, with special attention provided to remove the regional disparities in development. The beauty of implementing the 6th Plan is that in pursuit of achieving national development goals, the MDG will also be achieved as the terminal year of both the milestone goals coincides.

The recent progress report of MDGs in Bangladesh 2011, shows that Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in the areas of primary schooling, gender parity in primary and secondary level education, lowering the infant and under-five mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio, improving immunization coverage and reducing the incidence of communicable diseases. The recent data reveal that incidence of poverty has been declining at an annual rate of 2.46 percent in Bangladesh during 1991-1992 to 2010. If this trend continues, the target of halving the population living under the poverty line would be achieved well before 2015. However, achievement of the hunger target might be difficult to attain due to volatility of the commodity prices and the challenges of underemployment.