http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jul/15/millennium-development-goals-beyond-2015While the world is on track to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty, meeting the other targets contained in the millennium development goals (MDGs) would be a Herculean task.
The overall poverty rate is expected to fall below 15% by 2015 (from 40% in 1990) ... That in itself is a remarkable achievement. Yet, as the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, acknowledged earlier this month, the world needs to look beyond 2015, even though progress on the MDGs has been fitful.
Referring to the Arab spring, McGregor said the events in north Africa underlined the importance of trying to incorporate the concept of wellbeing, as prosperity without freedom had proved destabilising. He also cited the contrast between Bangkok and the poor rural northeast, where farmers were committing suicide because they had fallen into debt.
"It's basically about inequality, how we live well together and how we share wealth," said McGregor. "Let's get it on the agenda and have people work on wellbeing. We have to start coming up with new ideas on how we measure what we value."
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