"..the Millennium Development Goals stand out as one of the most resonant and unifying political agreements ever achieved. At the end of the Cold War who would have thought that within less than 25 years, through global cooperation, we would lift 600 million people out of poverty? Or that we would have helped 56 million more children go to school, and substantially reduced the gap in primary enrolment between boys and girls? Or that 14,000 fewer children would die every single day? In some areas progress continues to accelerate. In 2011, 700,000 fewer children died than in the previous year – the biggest-ever annual fall in child mortality. But in other areas the figures are less impressive. Progress in reducing hunger, for example, has stalled in many regions. Nevertheless, the overall assessment is positive: “the rate of progress in reducing poverty,
and increasing access to basic health, education, water, and other essential services is unparalleled in many countries’ histories.”

Save the Children, 2013