In September
2000, world leaders came together at the United Nations Headquarters in New York
to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to
a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of
time-bound targets - with a deadline of 2015 - that have become know as the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs recognize the contribution
that developed countries can make through trade, development assistance, debt
relief, and technology transfer. Progress over time is measured for each of the
eight MDGs
through relevant
targets and indicators.
For a description of the monitoring process, and to access
the MDG database, visit the
UN Statistics Division.
Goals, targets and indicators
A framework including a
specific set of goals, targets and indicators to measure progress towards the
MDGs was adopted by a consensus of experts from the
United Nations Secretariat, IMF, OECD and the World Bank. The
current official MDG framework,
which was revised in 2007, supersedes the
previous framework.
ITU has been given the mandate to
measure Target 18F, (of Goal 8): ‘In cooperation with the private sector, make
available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and
communications’. ITU is monitoring 3 indicators:
8.14: fixed telephone lines
per 100 inhabitants,
8.15: mobile cellular
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants,
8.16: Internet users per 100
inhabitants.
Access to
information and communication technologies (I) by development
status and region
Fixed
telephone lines per 100 population
Mobile
cellular subscriptions per 100 population
Internet
users per 100 population
1990
2007
1990
2007
1990
2007
World
9.9
19.0
0.2
50.3
0.3
20.6
Developed
region
44.2
48.8
1.2
100.3
0.3
65.5
CIS
12.4
25.4
0.0
93.4
0.0
17.7
Developing
region
3.1
13.3
0.0
38.6
0.0
12.7
Northern Africa
2.9
12.1
0.0
57.3
0.0
14.4
SSA
1.0
1.5
0.0
22.9
0.0
3.7
LAC
6.3
17.8
0.0
66.7
0.0
25.7
Eastern Asia
2.4
28.5
0.0
43.8
0.0
18.7
Southern
Asia
0.7
4.4
0.0
23.0
0.0
6.9
SEA
1.3
11.3
0.1
48.2
0.0
11.8
Western Asia
9.8
17.6
0.1
71.8
0.0
15.7
Oceania
3.4
4.9
0.0
16.2
0.0
5.7
LDCs
0.3
0.9
0.0
14.5
0.0
1.5
LLDCs
2.3
3.6
0.0
18.2
0.0
3.5
SIDS
7.1
12.3
0.2
44.4
0.0
19.1
Note:CIS=Commonwealth
of Independent States SSA=Sub-Saharan Africa; LAC=Latin America and
the Caribbean; SEA=South-eastern Asia; LDCs=Least Developed
Countries; LLCDs=Landlocked Developing Countries; SIDS=Small Island
Developing States. Regional classifications are those of the United
Nations.
Source: ITU.
The
Millennium Project was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary-General
i to develop a concrete action plan to achieve the MDGs
Partners in tracking the MDGs
There are many organizations and many people working in
different ways to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Visit the list of
agencies that are providing
information for monitoring progress toward the goals.
ITU also contributes to the
UN MDG Gap
Task Force, which is in charge of tracking existing international
commitments and their fulfillment at the international and country level in
the areas of official development assistance, market access (trade), debt
relief, access to essential medicines and technology.
