Millennium Development Goals

Reduce by Half the Proportion of People Living on Less than $1 a Day

The first of the MDG goals is to reduce by 50 percent the number of people living below the poverty line. Originally, this was under the premise that extreme poverty consisted of people living on under $1 per day; however, this has been adjusted to $1.25, which leads to the conclusion that the number of people living in extreme poverty was and is higher than originally estimated/assumed.

Achieve Full and Productive Employment and Decent Work for All, Including Women and Young People

In many developing regions, jobs do not necessarily translate into living above the extreme poverty line. Many people are paid less than $1 per day. Women are also prohibited from being part of the formal workforce in many parts of the world. Contributing to the spread of poverty is the trend of increased urbanization, leading to higher populations in the world's slums, in which 1 billion people are exposed to increased risk of illness, hunger, and lower quality of life. Successful initiatives for addressing poverty include the spread of microfinance projects, which provide small loans for the establishment of micro-enterprises; new types of more productive crops; and capacity for emergency response to meet needs during and following disasters.

Reduce by Half the Proportion of People Who Suffer from Hunger

Although the proportion of people who are living without access to sufficient food has dropped since the early 1990s because of population growth, the actual number of people without enough food has risen. This trend has been reinforced with the rise in food prices that occurred during 2008. Much remains to be done to address the first MDG goal. In particular, work is needed to provide food availability, food aid, school feeding programs, promote urban development of slums, and facilitate better multilateral trading for the least-developed countries.

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