Progress in Terms of UN’s Millennium Development Goals

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger


• Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day
• Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
• Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

The number of people living in poverty in rural areas has been reduced from 85 million in 1990 to 35.97 million at the end of 2009. Target of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty has been met.


Achieve universal primary education


• Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling

China has raised the net primary school enrollment rate from 97.8% in 1990 to 99.4% in 2009. The gross enrollment rate for junior high school has been raised from 66.7% in 1990 to 99% in 2009.


Promote gender equality and empower women


• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

With the retention rates for boys and girls in primary school education standing at 99.4percent and 99.3percent respectively, gender disparities appear to have been eliminated. Women hold 21.3 % of the seats in the National People’s Congress in 2008.


Reduce child mortality


• Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five
Since 1990s, reported infant mortality rate dropped from 50.2% in 1991 to 13.8% in 2009 while mortality rate of children under-five dropped from 61%in 1991 to 17.2% in 2004.


Improve maternal health


• Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio
• Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Maternal mortality ratio has dropped from 80 per 100,000 live births in 1991 to 31.9 per 100,000 live births in 2009 but these national figures mask important disparities between eastern developed provinces and western poorer provinces of China.


Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases


• Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it
• Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

If the epidemic continues to expand, the rate is slowing. In late 2009, China reported that the number of estimated HIV cases has risen to 740,000. Prevalence among the total population as a whole was 0.057percent


Ensure environmental sustainability


• Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources
• Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
• Reduce by half the pro-portion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water
• Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers by 2020

Land covered by forest has increased from 16.55% in 1998 to 20.36% in 2008. Over 200,000 water supply projects have been launched to provide access to safe drinking water for 220 million rural residents. This means that this MDG target on safe drinking water has been achieved six years ahead of schedule.


Develop a global partnership for development


• Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory. Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction nationally and internationally
• Address the least developed countries’ special needs. This includes tariff and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction
• Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States
• Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term
• In cooperation with the developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth
In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries
• In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies especially information and communications technologies

Since 2000, China has carried out over 1,000 projects in more than 120 countries within the South-South cooperation framework. China has forgiven 380 interest-free loans due at the end of 2006 owed by 50 of the least-developed countries that have diplomatic relations with China and other poor countries that carry heavy debts. Between 1998 and 2010, the number of internet users in China has risen from 2.1 million to 420 million.

(All information provided by United Nations Development Programme: China website)