Millennium Development Goals

MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
The proportion of people living below the international poverty line has been decreasing, but not fast enough to meet this MDG target. And even meeting the target would still leave around 250 million in poverty in 2015.

MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
India is likely to meet the primary education targets as there has been a big rise in enrolment of primary school children. The focus is now on improving the poor quality of the education they are getting.

MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Girls’ enrolment in school is growing faster than boys’, but a significant gender gap remains at the secondary level. Only 8.3% of seats in the Indian Parliament are held by women.

MDG 4: Reduce child mortality
The percentage of children under 3 who are underweight has fallen but remains very high at 43%. Accelerated efforts to reduce infant deaths will be required to meet this goal.

MDG 5: Improve maternal health
India is failing to achieve the target to reduce the number of deaths among women before, during and shortly after childbirth. Currently only 48% of births are attended by skilled attendants.

MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Relatively good progress is being made in controlling communicable diseases. Polio is close to eradication, India is on track to achieve the TB MDG and HIV/AIDS infection has been kept below a rate of 0.5%.

MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
India is showing mixed progress on environmental, water and sanitation targets. Only 33% of the population has access to improved sanitation, and India is the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

MDG 8: Develop a global partnership for development
One element of this MDG is access to communications technology. From 2000 to 2006, according to the UN, the number of people in India with a mobile phone subscription rose dramatically from 0.35 per 100 to 14.83.