Dispatches - July
New UN Nordic Survey Reveals Misperceptions about MDGs
COPENHAGEN - Halfway to the 2015 deadline for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new survey reveals a deep gulf between Nordic citizens’ perception of the developing world and reality.The survey has revealed that the quality of life of the average world citizen is actually better than what Nordic citizens think.
According to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 – launched on 2 July in Geneva - 88 per rcent of children in developing countries are enrolled in primary school. However, only 1 per cent of Norwegians and Danes believe that the figure is somewhat close to 80 per cent.
The same goes for literacy levels: 79 per cent of all children in the developing world know how to read and write, but the survey shows that only 4 per cent of all Finns believe the figure to be this high.
The survey was conducted by the Danish research company Catinét on behalf of the World Food Programme, the UN Development Programme, UNFPA Nordic Offices, UNICEF Denmark and Norway, the United Nations Asssociation of Sweden, FK Norway and the Nordic Ministries for Foreign Affairs. It is part of an awareness campaign to focus the attention of Nordic citizens on MDGs at their halfway mark.
The survey was also conducted in Viet Nam. Results show that the Vietnamese have a more realistic picture of the state of the world and progress towards the MDGs than their Nordic counterparts.
This may also be why the Vietnamese are more positive when it comes to achieving the MDGs: 60 per cent of all Vietnamese respondents believe poverty can be halved by 2015, whereas only about 14.5 per cent of Nordic respondents believe this is feasible.
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MDG 2015 Survey: Denmark | Finland | Norway | Sweden | Viet Nam |
