Goals

First Goal

END HUNGER AND EXTREME POVERTY

INTRODUCTION

Over the years, we've been inundated with the statistics and the pictures of poverty around the world-so much so that many people in both the North and South have come to accept it as an unfortunate but unalterable state of affairs. The truth, however, is that things have changed in recent years. The world today is more prosperous than it ever has been. The technological advances we have seen in recent years have created encouraging new opportunities to improve economies and reduce hunger.

THE TARGETS Goal 1 of the Millennium Development Goals sets out by the year 2015:

• Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day.
• Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.
• Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

(source: UN Millennium Campaign website www.endpoverty2015.org )

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that in our world today: One third of deaths – some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day – are due to poverty-related causes. That’s 270 million people since 1990, the majority women and children, roughly equal to the population of the US. (Reality of Aid 2004)

Every year more than 10 million children die of hunger and preventable diseases – that’s over 30,000 per day and one every 3 seconds. (80 Million Lives, 2003 / Bread for the World / UNICEF / World Health Organization)