The Price of Inaction: Findings from the Millennium Project : UNFPA

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The Price of Inaction

The price of inaction...is too high to contemplate.

—United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan

If current trends continue, hundreds of millions of people worldwide may be unable to escape the trap of poverty and the pain of hunger. If the Millennium Development Goals are met, however, and if the world works together to achieve the goals, some thirty million people can avoid HIV-infection over the next five years. The lives of millions of mothers and infants will be saved. The United Nations Millennium Project has assembled tables projecting the human benefits of meeting the MDGs by region. For additional information, see Table 9 from the Overview of Investing in Development.

New HIV Infections 2002-10 (millions)
Region	Current trend extrapolated to 2010	Expanded response scenario for 2010
Eastern Europe and Central Asia	2.8	1.3
Latin America and the Caribbean	2.3	0.7
Middle East and North Africa	0.9	0.3
South and Southeast Asia	18.5	5.7
Sub-Saharan Africa	21.0	8.8
Total	45.5	16.8

Individuals living in slum conditions (millions)
Region	2001	Current trend extrapolated to 2020	MDG Scenario for 2020
Europe and Central Asia	44	47	41
East Asia and Pacific	237	385	210
Latin America and Caribbean	128	173	116
Middle East and North Africa	61	97	54
South Asia	235	398	207
Sub-Saharan Africa	167	325	144
Total	872	1425	772

Poverty headcount (millions of people)
Region	2005	Current trend extrapolated to 2015	MDG Scenario for 2015
Eastern Europe and Central Asia	92	88	49
East Asia and the Pacific *	182	0	0
Latin America and the Caribbean	128	123	90
Middle East and North Africa	8	9	4
South Asia*	407	317	317
Sub-Saharan Africa	345	431	198
Total	1162	968	658

Individuals suffering from undernourishment (millions)
Region	2005 estimate	Current trend extrapolated to 2015	MDG Scenario for 2015
Eastern Europe and Central Asia	52	61	20
East Asia and the Pacific *	162	65	65
Latin America and the Caribbean*	49	38	38
Middle East and North Africa	32	46	14
South Asia	301	285	228
Sub-Saharan Africa	228	255	155
Total	824	749	520

Maternal Mortality (millions of lives lost)
Region	2005 estimate	Current trend extrapolated to 2015	MDG Scenario for 2015
Total	0.54	0.54	0.15

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*Region on track to meet MDG target.

Note: Numbers in table may not sum to totals because of rounding.

Source: Poverty headcount data from Chen and Ravallion 2004. HIV/AIDS data from Stover and others 2002. Slum dweller data from United Nations Population Division, 2001, 2003 and UN HABITAT 2003. All population projections from United Nations Population Division 2003.

All tables adapted from Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals