Why the Millennium Development Goals are Not Realistic.’

The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that were established following the Millennium Summit of United Nations in 2000. All 189 United Nations member states at the time and at least 23 international organizations committed to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The aim of the Millennium Development Goals is to encourage economic and social development in all countries, particularly less-economically developed countries. As of today, progress towards the goals has been uneven. Meanwhile, some countries, such as Brazil, have achieved many goals, while others, such as Benin, are not on track to achieving any. Accordingly, the majority of LEDCs, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa, will fail to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. One could say that this can be attributed to the fact that the goals are not overly-ambitious and unrealistic goals in themselves, but rather it is the timespan of fifteen years that is the unrealistic aspect of the goals. Even with increased efforts, it can be said that a much larger timeframe is required in order for the goals to be achieved, particularly the poverty, education and health related goals.

The first Millennium Development Goal is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. Specifically referring to poverty, all regions have experienced a decline in absolute poverty, with the exception of West Africa. Nonetheless, apart from the regions of South-East Asia and East Asia, no regions have actually met the Millennium Development Goal. The explanation for the vast decrease in poverty in Asia is due to the great success of countries such as China, India, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia. Out of all the countries...

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...cerned areas, but this progress has been uneven, with some countries achieving the goals rapidly, some countries on track of achieving the goals, and some countries not achieving the goal at all. There will definitely be a time when the world meets these goals, if more aid and money is efficiently allocated between the developing countries.Ultimately, the goals are unrealistic in the sense that they were expected to be achieved by 2015. This was simply impractical as natural disasters, climate change and the global financial crisis have all threatened the progress. Not only this, but with the foreign debt haunting many countries in the developing world, this has halted the development and progress. Having said that, it is important that the governments stick to their commitments even if they will not be achieved by 2015 and work on achieving them in the next decade.