United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals

September 20th, 2010

Achieving universal primary education by 2015 is Goal 2 of the MDGs

Global leaders have gathered for the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in New York which runs September 20-22. The world is watching to see if this summit will make serious progress towards achieving the eight MDG goals by 2015.

In September 2000, world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters 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. The goals adopted became known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The eight MDGs are broken down into 21 quantifiable targets that are, in turn, measured by 60 indicators.

The eight MDGs are:

1. Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty;

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. Develop a Global Partnership for Development.

Civil society and faith based organizations are planning a variety of campaigns to raise awareness and promote action supportive of the MDGs.

A calendar of side events at the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals.

Watch Live the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals.