§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on progress towards the millennium development goals. [64702]
§ Clare ShortLatest forecasts from the World Bank suggest that globally, meeting the 2015 target of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty is attainable. There has been progress. During the 1990s, the proportion of people living on less than %1 a day in the developing world fell from 29 per cent. in 1990 to 23 per cent. in 1999. This was mainly due to the substantial progress made during the 1990s in east Asia and, in particular, China.
In the developing world, progress has also been made during the 1990s against almost all the other 2015 millennium development targets. The proportion of children completing a full course of primary school increased from 68 per cent. to 73 per cent.; the under-five mortality rate decreased from 88 to 84 deaths per 1,000 births; and the proportion of people with access to an improved water source increased from 73 per cent. to 79 per cent.
However, to meet all of the 2015 targets we must do more. The sub-Saharan African region presents the biggest challenge to meeting the 2015 targets. We therefore need to make an enormous effort internationally to accelerate progress in Africa.
A detailed description of progress towards all the 2015 targets is contained in a recent World Bank publication: "World Development Indicators 2002", which can be found at the following website: http://www.worldbank.org/data/ wdi2002/worldview.pdf