What are the Millennium Development Goals?

In 2000, eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations:

  1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  2. Achieve universal primary education
  3. Promote gender equality and empower women
  4. Reduce child mortality
  5. Improve maternal health
  6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
  7. Ensure environmental sustainability
  8. Global partnership for development

With an end date of 2015, these goals formed a blueprint for action agreed to by all the world’s countries (189) and leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest. Progress towards reaching the goals has been uneven across countries. The major successful countries include China and India. The World Bank estimated that MDG 1A (halving the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day) was achieved in 2008 mainly due to the results from these two countries and East Asia.

What are the Sustainable Development Goals?

In 2012, the member nations of the UN came together in Brazil for the Rio+20 Conference on global sustainable development. One of the main outcomes of the conference was an agreement to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to build upon the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post-2015 development agenda. The result is the below proposed list of global SDGs to be voted and agreed upon by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2015.

Sustainable Development Goals for consideration:

Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all
Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all
Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

All About Goal 8:

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

  • 8.1 sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances, and in particular at least 7% per annum GDP growth in the least-developed countries
  • 8.2 achieve higher levels of productivity of economies through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high value added and labor-intensive sectors
  • 8.3 promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises including through access to financial services
  • 8.4 improve progressively through 2030 global resource efficiency in consumption and production, and endeavor to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation in accordance with the 10-year framework of programs on sustainable consumption and production with developed countries taking the lead
  • 8.5 by 2030 achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value
  • 8.6 by 2020 substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training
  • 8.7 take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, eradicate forced labor, and by 2025 end child labor in all its forms including recruitment and use of child soldiers
  • 8.8 protect labor rights and promote safe and secure working environments of all workers, including migrant workers, particularly women migrants, and those in precarious employment
  • 8.9 by 2030 devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism which creates jobs, promotes local culture and products
  • 8.10 strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and to expand access to banking, insurance and financial services for all
  • 8.a increase Aid for Trade support for developing countries, particularly LDCs, including through the Enhanced Integrated Framework for LDCs
  • 8.b by 2020 develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement