Background
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.
On 25 September 2013, the President of the UN General Assembly hosted a special event to follow up on efforts made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). At the Special Event towards achieving the MDGs, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented to Member States his report entitled In the adopted by Member States, world leaders renewed their commitment to meet the MDG’s targets and agreed to hold a high-level Summit in September 2015 to adopt a new set of Goals building on the achievements of the MDGs.
On 23 September 2013, the Secretary-General hosted a to catalyze and accelerate further action to achieve the MDGs and enrich the deliberations of the General Assembly and beyond. The forum focused on concrete examples of scaling up success and identifying further opportunities. Additional commitments to boost MDG achievement were announced, bringing the total to more than $2.5 billion.
Goal 1: 2013 Fact Sheet 
Goal 2: 2013 Fact Sheet
Goal 3: 2013 Fact Sheet
Goal 4: 2013 Fact Sheet
Goal 5: 2013 Fact Sheet
Goal 6: 2013 Fact Sheet
Goal 7: 2013 Fact Sheet
Goal 8: 2013 Fact Sheet
The 2010 MDG Summit with the adoption of a -- Keeping the Promise: United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals -- and the announcement of a number of initiatives against poverty, hunger and disease. In a major push to accelerate progress on , a number of Heads of State and Government from developed and developing countries, along with the private sector, foundations, international organizations, civil society and research organizations, pledged over $40 billion in resources over the next five years.
Governments, foundations, businesses and civil society groups rallied around the call to action to slash poverty, hunger and disease by 2015, by announcing new to meet the Millennium Development Goals, at a high-level event at UN Headquarters on 25 September 2008. The gathering "exceeded our most optimistic expectations," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, noting that it generated an estimated $16 billion, including some $1.6 billion to bolster food security, more than $4.5 billion for education and $3 billion to combat malaria.
2005 World Summit
The 2005 World Summit, held from 14 to 16 September at United Nations Headquarters in New York, brought together more than 170 Heads of State and Government. It was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take bold decisions in the areas of development, security, human rights and reform of the United Nations. The agenda was based on an achievable set of proposals outlined in March 2005 by Secretary- General Kofi Annan in his report “In Larger Freedom”.
Millennium Summit
In September 2000, building upon a decade of major United Nations conferences and summits, world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the , 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 - that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals.
UN Millennium Project
The Millennium Project was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary-General in 2002 to develop a concrete action plan for the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to reverse the grinding poverty, hunger and disease affecting billions of people. In 2005, the independent advisory body headed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, presented its final recommendations to the Secretary-General in a synthesis volume “Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”
The United Nations Millennium Campaign, started in 2002, supports and inspires people from around the world to take action in support of the Millennium Development Goals. Watch the videos by the Millennium Campaign on , , , and the and discover how the lives of ten ordinary people around the world are impacted in profound ways by the level of progress their countries have made towards achieving the Goals.
"Eradicating extreme poverty continues to be one of the main challenges of our time, and is a major concern of the international community. Ending this scourge will require the combined efforts of all, governments, civil society organizations and the private sector, in the context of a stronger and more effective global partnership for development. The Millennium Development Goals set timebound targets, by which progress in reducing income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter and exclusion — while promoting gender equality, health, education and environmental sustainability — can be measured. They also embody basic human rights — the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter and security. The Goals are ambitious but feasible and, together with the comprehensive United Nations development agenda, set the course for the world’s efforts to alleviate extreme poverty by 2015. "
United Nations Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon