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Making sense of the MDG alphabet soup

The Philippines lags in reaching the targets of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals or MDG, according to the latest government data.

The numbers come from the 5th Philippines Progress Report on the MDGs released by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

The first MDG is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day, and halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Among the seven other goals are: all children complete primary schooling; increase the ratio of girls to boys in schools; up the share of women in wage employment in non-farm work.      Reduce child deaths by two-thirds; increase the proportion of 1-year-old children immunized against measles; reduce maternal mortality by three quarters; increase the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel; halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Reduce forest loss, carbon dioxide emissions and consumption of ozone-depleting substances; halve the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation; and widen the availability of technologies like telephone lines, mobile phones, personal computers and Internet users.

The MDG was initiated by the United Nations Development Program in 1990 when it released the first Human Development Report that stressed people first in any development moves. Backing this assertion with empirical data, the report changed government policies, aligning their goals to the MDG.

The MDG is also based on empirical data. One of the data sources is the Human Development Report which measures development using the Human Development Index; the index includes statistics on life expectancy, education and income that accounts for inequality.

There are two documents that monitor compliance. One is the MDG Progress Reports which provide periodic assessments. The other are the latest country reports showing the strides made for each of the goals; the probability of achieving the targets by 2015; analysis of inequality in terms of regional performance; challenges and bottlenecks; and immediate actions needed to accelerate the achievement of the MDGs.

Together, the two reports provide countries such as the Philippines with a powerful tool to identify the areas where the country is progressing well, and where it needs to exert greater effort. They compare the performance of the Philippines to other countries.

The 2014 Human Development Report uses four indices: Human Development Index, Gender Inequality Index, Gender Development Index and Multidimensional Poverty Index.

The Human Development Index (the main measure) summarizes long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development – long and healthy life; access to knowledge; and a decent standard of living.

Long and healthy life is measured by life expectancy at birth. 

Access to knowledge is measured by mean years of education for adults – or the average number of years of education received in a lifetime by people aged 25 years and older.

Another measurement is the expected years of schooling for children of school-age entrance. That's the total number of years of schooling a child of school-entry age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrollment rates stay the same throughout the child’s life).

Standard of living is measured by Gross National Income per capita expressed in constant 2011 international dollars and converted using Purchasing Power Parity rates.


The 2013 Human Development Report ranks the Philippines No. 117 out of 187 countries. (SciPhil)

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