The Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of eight time-bound, concrete and
specific targets aimed at significantly reducing, if not decisively eradicating poverty, by the year
2015

MDG Goals and Indicators

Goal 1: Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1a: Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day

 1.1 Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day

 1.2 Poverty gap ratio
 1.3 Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 1b: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women
and young people

 1.4 Growth rate of GDP per person employed

 1.5 Employment-to-population ratio
 1.6 Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day
 1.7 Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total
employment

Target 1c: Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

 1.8 Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age

 1.9 Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

Goal 2: Achieving universal primary education

Target 2a: Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling

 2.1 Net enrolment ratio in primary education

 2.2 Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach last grade of primary
 2.3 Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds, women and men

Goal 3: Promoting gender equality and empowering women

Target 3a: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005,
and at all levels by 2015

 3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education

  3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector
 3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Goal 4: Reducing child mortality

Target 4a: Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five

 4.1 Under-five mortality rate

 4.2 Infant mortality rate
 4.3 Proportion of 1 year-old children immunised against measles

 Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

 Based on data from the Technical Working Group on Maternal and

Child Mortality, under-five mortality rate (U5MR) was 80 deaths per
1,000 live births for 1990. This rate declined to 48 in 1998 and to 42 in
2003. In 2006, using results of the Family Planning Survey (FPS) of
NSO, the rate fell down further to 32 deaths per 1,000 live births. For
the period 1990-2006, the decline was about 60 percent. This suggests a
high likelihood of meeting the target of 26.7 deaths per 1,000 live births
by 2015.

 Infant mortality rate (IMR) has also been decreasing from 57 deaths per
1,000 live births in 1990, to 35 in 1998, to 30 in 2003 (see Figure 6)
and in 2006, it declined further to 24 deaths. The decline from 1990 to
2006 in infant mortality rate was about 58 percent. Similarly, the
likelihood of attaining the MDG target for IMR is high. It should be
further noted that the MTPDP 2004-2010 aims to reduce the IMR to 17
per 1,000 live births by 2010, a much greater decline than the 2015
MDG target.

 Still, there were regions that in 2006 had infant mortality rates exceeding the national
average of 24 deaths per 1,000 live births. These were Cordillera (29), MIMAROPA
(32), Bicol (26), Eastern Visayas (29), Zamboanga (38), Davao (28), CARAGA (28), and
the ARMM (31).

Goal 5: Improving maternal health

Target 5a: Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio

 5.1 Maternal mortality ratio

 5.2 Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Target 5b: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

 5.3 Contraceptive prevalence rate

  5.4 Adolescent birth rate
 5.5 Antenatal care coverage (at least one visit and at least four visits)
 5.6 Unmet need for family planning
 Goal 5: Improve maternal health
 MMR is defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live
births. The indicator on maternal health status is disturbing. Based on
data from the 1993 and 1998 National Demographic and Health Survey
(NDHS), MMR went down to 172 deaths from a 1993 baseline figure
of 209 deaths. In 2006, based on the FPS, it declined to only 162
deaths. Though the decline continued, it was at a sharply diminishing
rate.
 The target reduction in MMR is 52 deaths per 100,00 live births in
2015. In view of the fact that the decline has slowed down considerably
and appears to have stalled, this goal has been identified as the least
likely to be achieved for the Philippines.
 Out of three (3) million pregnancies that occur every year, half were
unplanned and one-third of these end in abortions, according to a 2006
report of the Allan Guttmacher Institute conducted in the Philippines.
Induced abortion was the fourth leading cause of maternal deaths. Young women
accounted for 17 percent of induced abortions. Over half of births occurred at home and
one-third of them were assisted by traditional birth attendants (TBAs). Around 75 percent
of the poorest quintile did not have access to skilled birth attendants (SBAs) compared to
only 20 percent of the richest quintile. There is, therefore, a need to improve prenatal and
postnatal services and special competencies of SBAs to reduce neonatal mortality.
  
 Universal access to sexual and reproductive health education, information, and services
improves health, saves lives and reduces poverty. The slow decline in MMR may be
traced to inadequate access to integrated reproductive health services by women,
including poor adolescents and men.
 The country’s total fertility rate (TFR) based on the 2006 FPS was 3.2 births per woman.
This is a slight decline from the 2003 TFR of 3.5 children per woman. Among the
regions, Region 4-B posted the highest TFR (4.1), while NCR, the lowest.
 On the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR), the percentage of currently married women
ages 15-49 years using contraceptives slightly changed from 49 percent in 2001 to 50.6
percent in 2006 based on the FPS for the same years. Among the regions, Central Luzon
had the highest CPR at 58.9 percent, followed by Cagayan Valley (58.6%) and Southern
Mindanao (57.2%). The lowest CPR was in ARMM (20%).
 The unmet need for family planning was 15.7 percent in 2006, representing a decline
from the 1998 figure of 19.8 percent. The ARMM showed the highest unmet need
(29.7%) while Cagayan Valley, the lowest at 9.7 percent.
 These trends indicate the need to actively promote family planning and responsible
parenthood most especially, for low-income households. Without access to FP
techniques, the actual number of children of poor families generally exceeds desired
family size.
 Survey findings, however, revealed that Filipino women across all socio-economic
classes desire fewer children and would like to use modern contraceptives. Yet only
 about half of women of reproductive age practice family planning (FP). Even when FP
services are available, it has been observed that the decision to seek health services is
often determined by gender norms in the family and community, as well as cultural and
religious beliefs and practices.
 Concerning the young, data from the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey
(YAFSS) for the period 1994-2002 indicated that the overall prevalence of pre-marital
sexual activity increased from 18 percent to 23 percent. It is likewise observed that twice
as many females than males experienced reproductive health (RH) problems. The higher
levels of RH problems observed in females can be attributed to their higher experience of
less serious RH problems. It is however noted that there was an increase in serious RH
problems among females as compared to males due to the increasing proportion of
females engaging in sexual risk behaviors and the low level of contraceptive use. The
2006 FPS results also showed that 6.3 percent of women 15-19 years old had begun
childbearing and majority of them were poor and from the rural areas. Other studies show
that teenage pregnancies accounted for 17 percent of induced abortion cases.

Goal 6: Combating HIV /AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Target 6a: Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

 6.1 HIV prevalence among population aged 15-24 years

 6.2 Condom use at last high-risk sex
 6.3 Proportion of population aged 15-24 years with comprehensive correct
knowledge of HIV/AIDS
 6.4 Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non-orphans
aged 10-14 years

Target 6b: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need
it

 6.5 Proportion of population with advanced HIV infection with access to

antiretroviral drugs

Target 6c: Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

 6.6 Incidence and death rates associated with malaria

 6.7 Proportion of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets
 6.8 Proportion of children under 5 with fever who are treated with appropriate
anti-malarial drugs
 6.9 Incidence, prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis
 6.10 Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under directly observed
treatment short course

Goal 7: Ensuring environmental sustainability

Target 7a: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and
programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources

Target 7b: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss

 7.1 Proportion of land area covered by forest

 7.2 CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP)
 7.3 Consumption of ozone-depleting substances
 7.4 Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits
 7.5 Proportion of total water resources used
 7.6 Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected
 7.7 Proportion of species threatened with extinction

Target 7c: Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking
water and basic sanitation

 7.8 Proportion of population using an improved drinking water source

7.9 Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility

Target 7d: Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by
2020

 7.10 Proportion of urban population living in slums

Goal 8: Developing global partnerships for development

Target 8a: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and
financial system
Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction – both
nationally and internationally

Target 8b: Address the special needs of the least developed countries
Includes: tariff and quota free access for the least developed countries' exports; enhanced
programme of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) and cancellation of official
bilateral debt; and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction

Target 8c: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island
developing States (through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small
Island Developing States and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General
Assembly)

Target 8d: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through
national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term

[Some of the indicators listed below are monitored separately for the least developed countries
(LDCs), Africa, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.]
Official development assistance (ODA)

 8.1 Net ODA, total and to the least developed countries, as percentage of
OECD/DAC donors’ gross national income
 8.2 Proportion of total bilateral, sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to
basic social services (basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water
and sanitation)
 8.3 Proportion of bilateral official development assistance of OECD/DAC donors
that is untied
 8.4 ODA received in landlocked developing countries as a proportion of their
gross national incomes
 8.5 ODA received in small island developing States as a proportion of their gross
national incomes

Market access

 8.6 Proportion of total developed country imports (by value and excluding arms)
from developing countries and least developed countries, admitted free of duty
 8.7 Average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products and
textiles and clothing from developing countries
 8.8 Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries as a percentage of their
gross domestic product
 8.9 Proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity

Debt sustainability

 8.10 Total number of countries that have reached their HIPC decision points and
number that have reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative)
 8.11 Debt relief committed under HIPC and MDRI Initiatives
 8.12 Debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services

Target 8e: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential
drugs in developing countries

 8.13 Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a

sustainable basis

Target 8f: In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new
technologies, especially information and communications

 8.14 Telephone lines per 100 population

 8.15 Cellular subscribers per 100 population
 8.16 Internet users per 100 population
The 8 MDGs at the National Progress Level

Low - High Low High High -

High