| The Millennium Development Goals
in Saudi Arabia |
The decade of 1990s was a remarkable period of time signaling the launching of the first Human Development Report in 1990 that urged the governments of the world to initiate people-centered development.
Through a series of Global Conferences and Summits and the subsequent respective follow-up Conferences, this ultimate goal was put forward when the world leaders and the United Nations System pledged enactment to global development during the twenty first century. The declarations and resolutions of the United Nations Global Conferences and Summits have outlined the International Development Targets (IDTs). The IDTs were first adopted by the OECD/DAC in 1996 and endorsed again in 2000.
At the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, one hundred forty nine (149) Heads of State and representatives of government from some 180 countries adopted the Millennium Declaration. In this Declaration, an augmented set of targets with corresponding indicators were agreed upon and now known as the Declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
By the year 2015, all 191 United Nations Member States have pledged to meet these 8 goals:
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 Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger |
Targets: |
1- Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day
2- Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger |
Progress In Saudi Arabia: |
In Saudi Arabia, the percentage of families living under extreme poverty was 1.63% in 2005, and the prevalence of underweight children under 5 years of age increased from 5.1% in 2000 to 6.4% in 2004. |
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 Achieve Universal Primary Education
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Targets: |
3- Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling |
Progress In Saudi Arabia: |
With regards to the second goal, the net enrolment ratio in primary education in the Kingdom has significantly increased from 84.5% in 1990 to 92.8% in 2006; the percentage of pupils who start grade 1 and reach grade 5 has also increased from 74.5% in 1990 to 98.2% in 2006; and the literacy rate of 15-24 year olds has gone up remarkably from 85.9% in 1990 to 96.5 in 2006. |
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 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women |
Targets: |
4- Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015 |
Progress In Saudi Arabia: |
As for promoting gender quality and empowering women in Saudi Arabia where girls' education only started in the 60s, the 2007 report indicates that the ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary, and tertiary education rose from 85.1 in 1990 to 95.4 in 2006; the ratio of literate women to men 15-24 year olds was 73.7 in 1990 and became 92.7 in 2006; and until the end of 1992 the rate of women's participation in the labor market was 5.4% increasing to 15.0% in 2006. |
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 Reduce Child Mortality |
Targets: |
5- Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five |
Progress In Saudi Arabia: |
With respect to the fourth goal on reducing child mortality rate, Saudi Arabia has witnessed great drops whereby its under-five mortality rate went from 44 per 1000 in 1990 to 21.7 per 1000 in 2006; its infant mortality rate declined from 34 per thousand live births in 1990 to 18.6 per thousand live births in 2006; and the proportion of 1year-old children immunized against measles grew from 88.2% in 1990 to 95.2% in 2006 and is expected to reach 98% in 2009. |
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 Improve Maternal Health
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Targets: |
6- Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio |
Progress In Saudi Arabia: |
Reducing maternal mortality rate is another goal that is close to being achieved by Saudi Arabia. The MDGs report of 2007 shows that maternal mortality rate used to be 48 per 100,000 live births in 1990 and has dropped to 14.6 per 100,000 live births in 2006. Moreover, the proportion of births attended by skilled health professionals increased from 88% in 1990 to 96% in 2005. |
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 Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases |
Targets: |
7- Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
8- Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases |
Progress In Saudi Arabia |
Regarding HIV/AIDS and Malaria, Saudi Arabia is taking serious measures to halt and reverse their spread; however the report indicates that the cumulative number of HIV/AIDS reported cases was 2658 cases in 2006. As for Malaria, its incidence has decreased substantially from 125 cases per 100,000 people in 1990 to 4.45 per 100,000 people in 2006 . The Kingdom is expected to be free of Malaria in 2015. Similarly, it has achieved remarkable success with Tuberculosis incidence falling from 11.5 cases per 100,000 population in 1995 to 10.8 in 2006. |
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 Ensure Environmental Sustainability |
Targets: |
9- Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources
10- Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water
11- Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020 |
Progress In Saudi Arabia: |
In line with the MDGs commitment, the 8th national development plan (2005-2009) emphasized protection of the environment from pollution and conservation and development of wildlife, as well as conservation of natural resources and rationalization of their utilization. The MDGs report shows that the areas protected to maintain biological diversity to surface areas in Saudi Arabia increased from 3.3% in 1990 to 4.1% in 2006. The proportion of urban and rural population with sustainable access to safe drinking water increased from 94.2% in 1990 to 95.0 in 2006. |
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 Develop a Global Partnership for Development |
Targets: |
12- 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
13- 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
14- Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States
15- Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term
16- In cooperation with the developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth
17- In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries
18- In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies—especially information and communications technologies |
Progress In Saudi Arabia: |
Finally, the Kingdom is a major partner in international development whereby aid provided by it to the developing countries totaled more than $87.0 billion over 1973-2006. The ratio of foreign aid to GDP was estimated at 6.0% in previous years and has averaged about 4% of GDP over the past decade. More than $6 billion of poor-country debts to the Kingdom have been cancelled. |
Monitoring the implementation and achievement of the MDGs is very essential to determine the progress that has been made towards reaching the targets. In this respect, the General Assembly requested the Secretary General of the United Nations to prepare and submit every five years a comprehensive Global Progress Report on the progress made by each country towards the achievement of the intended MDGs targets. This Report will be based on the national progress Reports submitted by governments. United Nations Country Offices are mandated to support the respective countries of their jurisdictions in the process of achieving MDGs. Furthermore, the UN secretary General commissioned an independent advisory body entitled the Millennium Project. Its ultimate objective is to help ensure that all countries meet the MDGs. The Project is setting up a strategic plan for action for the Secretary General on how to mobilize global efforts and resources of rich and poor nations towards the achievement of the MDGs in the world.
Within its keen interest for the well being of its citizens and global development as well, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia participated in the Millennium Summit of September 2000 which yielded the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A high level delegation represented the Kingdom chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Premier, and Commander of the National Guards.
Through the last four decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was able to build extensive development infrastructures required for the achievement of the MDGs and the various national development aspects at large. For instance, these developments have lead to an increase in the life span due to the provision of health services and food security, drastic reduction in the illiteracy rate, reduction in child mortality, income and housing improvements, and the availability of drinking water and utility services.
Following the Millennium Summit, the Ministry of Economy and Planning has taken on the practice of producing national MDGs reports to reflect on Saudi Arabia's performance with regards to the achievement of the MDGs. Those reports are developed in coordination with the UNDP country office in Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom was able to publish its first National Millennium Development Goals Report for the year 2002. The Report outlined the achievements of the MDGs and the prospects of the Government for year 2015. The MDGs Report has been a very good tool to assist the government officials in formulating policy frameworks for further MDGs achievements.
A second National Millennium Development Goals Report for year 2006 was also developed to incorporate the latest development reforms and outline the major changes towards meeting the MDGs targets:
Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2006 (English)
Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2006 (Arabic)
Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2002 (English)
Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2002 (Arabic)
Meeting the MDGs in Saudi Arabia:
According to the two MDGs reports on Saudi Arabia produced in 2002 and 2006 by the Ministry of Economy & Planning in coordination with UNDP, one can observe the significant progress the Kingdom has reached with respect to the achievement of the MDGs. According to the 2006 report; reaching the 18 MDGs targets is highly expected with a good current supporting environment:
Furthermore, since March 2003 and until December 2006, UNDP Saudi Arabia carried a project which provided technical assistance to the establishment of Al-Madinah Al-Monawwarah Urban Observatory Network (MUON). This project was implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MoMRA) - Municipality of Al-Madinah Al-Monawwarah.
The MUON project aimed, in its first stages, at providing technical support to the establishment of the observatory, including its processes and framework, and enhancing its technical work quality to align it with sustainable human development goals of Al-Madinah Province. This included generating urban development indicators and utilizing them to influence the decision-making processes; from analysis to policy development and decision-making. More than 107 socio-economic-planning indicators were produced and analyzed for the urban area of Al-Madinah Al-Monawwarah, based on which development strategies and policies will be formulated inline with the MDGs and Eighth National Development Plan.
The new phase of the project aims at analyzing the interrelation between the various indicators to initiate and implement development programmes and projects accordingly. This is in addition to implementing programmes targeting poor families and the empowerment of women & youth. Additionally, as a result of this project a "toolkit" with direct link and explicit reference to the 8 MDGs was produced and disseminated to different stakeholders at the local and national levels.
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