MDG Targets and Indicators

To measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, a framework of 21 quantifiable targets and 60 indicators was set up by a consensus of experts from the United Nations Secretariat, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. The following is a detailed list of the targets and indicators supported by research material for each of the Goals:

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1A - Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day.

Indicator 1.1: Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day

Indicator 1.2: Poverty gap ratio

Indicator 1.3: Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 1B - Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.

Indicator 1.4: Growth rate of GDP per person employed

Indicator 1.5: Employment-to-population ratio

Indicator 1.6: Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day

Indicator 1.7: Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment

Target 1C - Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Indicator 1.8: Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age

Indicator 1.9: Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target 2 - Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

Indicator 2.1: Net enrollment ratio in primary education

Indicator 2.2: Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach last grade of primary

Indicator 2.3 Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds, women and men

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 3 - Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015.

Indicator 3.1: Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education

Indicator 3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector

Indicator 3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Target 4 - Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

Indicator 4.1: Under-five mortality rate

Indicator 4.2: Infant mortality rate

Indicator 4.3: Proportion of 1 year-old children immunized against measles

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Target 5A - Reduce by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio.

Indicator 5.1: Maternal mortality ratio

Indicator 5.2: Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Target 5B - Achieve universal access to reproductive health.

Indicator 5.3: Contraceptive prevalence rate

Indicator 5.4: Adolescent birth rate

Indicator 5.5: Antenatal care coverage (at least one visit and at least four visits)

Indicator 5.6: Unmet need for family planning

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

Target 6A - Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Indicator 6.1: HIV prevalence among population aged 15-24 years

Indicator 6.2: Condom use at last high-risk sex

Indicator 6.3: Proportion of population aged 15-24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS

Indicator 6.4: Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non-orphans aged 10-14 years

Target 6B - Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.

Indicator 6.5: Proportion of population with advanced HIV infection with access to antiretroviral drugs

Target 6C - Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

Indicator 6.6: Incidence and death rates associated with malaria

Indicator 6.7: Proportion of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets

Indicator 6.8: Proportion of children under 5 with fever who are treated with appropriate anti-malarial drugs

Indicator 6.9: Incidence, prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis

Indicator 6.10: Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under directly observed treatment short course

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 7A - Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.

Target 7B - Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss.

Indicator 7.1: Proportion of land area covered by forest

Indicator 7.2: CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP)

Indicator 7.3: Consumption of ozone-depleting substances

Indicator 7.4: Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits

Indicator 7.5: Proportion of total water resources used

Indicator 7.6: Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected

Indicator 7.7: Proportion of species threatened with extinction

Target 7C - Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

Indicator 7.8: Proportion of population using an improved drinking water source

Indicator 7.9: Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility

Target 7D - By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

Indicator 7.10: Proportion of urban population living in slums

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Target 8A - Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. This includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction - both nationally and internationally.

Target 8B - Address the special needs of the least developed countries. This includes tariff- and quota- free access for the least developed countries’ exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction.

Target 8C - Address the special needs of land-locked countries and small island developing states through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and 22nd General Assembly provisions.

Target 8D - Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term.

Official Development Assistance

Indicator 8.1: Net ODA, total and to the least developed countries LDCs, as percentage of OECD/Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors’ gross national income

Indicator 8.2: Proportion of total bilateral, sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to basic social services (basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation)

Indicator 8.3: Proportion of bilateral ODA of OECD/DAC donors that is untied

Indicator 8.4: ODA received in landlocked developing countries as a proportion of their GNIs

Indicator 8.5: ODA received in small island developing states as proportion of their GNIs

Market Access

Indicator 8.6: Proportion of total developed country imports (by value and excluding arms) from developing countries and from LDCs, admitted free of duty Indicator 8.7: Average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products and textiles and clothing from developing countries

Indicator 8.8: Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries as a percentage of their GDP

Indicator 8.9: Proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity

Debt Sustainability

Indicator 8.10: Total number of countries that have reached their Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiatives (HIPC) decision points and number that have reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative)

Indicator 8.11: Debt relief committed under HIPC and MDRI initiative

Indicator 8.12: Debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services

Target 8E - In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.

Indicator 8.13: Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a sustainable basis

Target 8F - In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications technologies.

Indicator 8.14: Telephone lines per 100 population

Indicator 8.15: Cellular subscribers per 100 population

Indicator 8.16: Internet users per 100 population

To read more about and track the MDG indicators, please click here

For a more detailed breakdown of the Millennium Development Goals, please read the Millennium Development Goals Report 2009

Additional MDG-related resources include: Keeping the Promise (2010 Report of the UN Secretary General).