Millennium Development Goals: Measuring Progress towards their Achievement

The Millennium Development Goals are time‐bound quantified targets for improving the human condition from different perspectives. Within each Goal several targets have been set, and to each target there corresponds one or more indicators. For each indicator we axiomatically characterize an index of perceived progress towards reaching the Goals such that it can be used for monitoring progress. We also present a composite index of progress, which allows the calculation of percentage contributions of progress made in different dimensions. This, in turn, enables us to identify the dimensions for which more progress is required, which is important from a policy perspective. We also provide an empirical illustration of the proposed indices using cross‐country data for different indicators.