The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been derived from the UN Millennium Declaration which was adopted during the Millennium Summit in 2000. They range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 - form a blueprint agreed to by all the world's countries and the entire world's leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world's poorest.
