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).

 

 MDGs in Saudi Arabia PSA

 

 

MDGs Posters (Click on the image for High Resolution)

Goal 3 Goal 2 Goal 1 
Goal 6 Goal 5 Goal 4 
 Goal 8 Goal 7 
Posters By Ms. Marram Tibah 
 
 
 

By the year 2015, all 191 United Nations Member States have pledged to meet these 8 goals:

 Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

Targets:

1- Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day.

2- Halve, between 1990 and 2015, 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 2004 to 0.8 in 2008, Prevalence of underweight children under five 5 years of age decreased from *6.4% in 2006 to 5.3% in 2010.

 

 

 

 

Achieve Universal Primary Education

Targets:

3- Ensure that, by 2015, all children, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

Progress In Saudi Arabia:

 

With regards to the second goal, the Gross enrolment ratio in primary education is 82% in 1990 to 106.0% in 2010. The Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5 increased from 74.5% in 1990 to 98.30% in 2010, and the literacy rate of 15-24 year olds has gone up remarkably from 85.9% in 1990 to 98% in 2010.

 

 

 

 

3Promote 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 ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and higher education rose from 85.1 in 1990 to 99.1 in 2010. Ratio of literate women to men, 15–24 year olds was 73.7 in 1990 and became 98.6 in 2010. Share of women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector 17.9 in 1990 and became14.2 in 2009.

 

 

 

 

4Reduce 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 19.5 per 1000 in 2010; infant mortality rate declined from 34 per thousand live births in 1990 to 16.9 per thousand live births in 2010; and the proportion of 1year-old children immunized against measles grew from 88.2% in 1990 to 98.2 in 2010.

 

 

 

 

5Improve Maternal Health

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 2009 shows that maternal mortality rate used to be 48 per 100,000 live births in 1990 and has dropped to 14 per 100,000 live births in 2010.Moreover, the proportion of births attended by skilled health professionals increased from 88% in 1990 to 97% in 2010.

 

 

 

 6Combat 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 16,334 cases in 2010. As for Malaria, its incidence has decreased substantially from 125 cases per 100,000 people in 1990 to 0.20 per 100,000 people in 2010. The Kingdom is expected to be free of Malaria in 2015. Similarly, it has achieved remarkable success with Tuberculosis incidence falling from 18.6 cases per 100,000 population in 1990 to 11.4 in 2010.

 

 

 

 

7Ensure 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 4.26% in 2010. The proportion of urban and rural population with sustainable access to safe drinking water through water distribution system and water tanker services (%) increased from 75% in 1990 to 96% in 2010.

 

 

 

 

8Develop 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:

 

Total Aid Over 1975–2011: Saudi Arabia is one of the largest donors of development aid to developing countries in terms of ratio of aid to GDP. The number of soft loan agreements concluded by the Saudi Fund for Development in 1975 and up to the end of 2010 was 451 agreements for funding 451 development projects and development programs, with a value of SR 31 billion. 75 developing countries benefited from this aid.

 

 

Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2011 (English)
Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2011 (Arabic)

Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2010 (English)
Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2010 (Arabic)

Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2009 (English)

Millennium Development Goals Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2008 (English)

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) 


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