East Asia and the Pacific has done well on meeting several of the MDGs, but progress has been
uneven.
In particular, the region has performed well
in reducing poverty, making strides toward universal primary
education and bridging the gender gap. China and Vietnam
experienced the most dramatic fall in income poverty, with the
proportion of the population below a $1 a day falling from 32 and 51
percent to 13 and 14 percent respectively during 1990-2002.
Progress has been slower in health, however. While many countries are
well on track for meeting the MDG targets, and some have already
achieved them, others, especially low-income countries are lagging in several dimensions. Despite significant progress made in
middle-income countries including Indonesia, Malaysia
and Philippines, based on the current trend the region
is not on track to achieve the goal of reducing infant mortality
rates by two thirds. In Cambodia, child mortality rose from
115 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 138 in 2002.
And
the persistence of disparities within countries remains a continuing challenge, even when goals have
been or are about to be attained in the aggregate. For instance, the
primary school completion rate in Indonesia among 15-19 year
olds was about 75 percent in the bottom 40 percent of the population
compared to 95 percent for the top quintile.
|