This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The World Bank says most developing countries have made important progress to ard the !nited "ations# $illennium Development %oals. &ast eek the international lender released its yearly World Development 'ndicators. (undreds o) indicators are used to measure progress in areas such as education* health* poverty* the environment and trade. One o) the $illennium Development %oals is to reduce +y hal) the num+er o) people living in e,treme poverty +y t enty )i)teen. Out o) eighty-seven countries ith data availa+le* )orty-nine seem likely to reach that goal. .E,treme poverty. is de)ined as earning less than one dollar a day. Another goal is to make education availa+le to all young children. The report sho s that in t o thousand seven* seven out o) ten children lived in developing countries that had met or ere close to meeting that goal. Also* thirty-nine countries have achieved or are likely to achieve the goal o) reducing child death rates. The target is a t o-thirds reduction +y t enty )i)teen. And the report )rom the World Bank sho s the )irst reduction in A'DS-related deaths. But even ith all the progress* there is still a long ay to go to reach all eight goals approved +y orld leaders ten years ago. This is especially true in su+Saharan A)rica* hich )alls +ehind on all o) the goals. Eric S anson is a program manager )or the World Development 'ndicators. ER'/ SWA"SO"0 .1ou have had a decade or more in A)rica o) very slo economic progress in the nineties. 1ou#ve had civil ar and other disruptions* you#ve had poor governance in many countries that has not allo ed the economy to gro and* in particular* has not allo ed poor people to share in the +ene)its o) gro th.. Still* he points to some hope)ul signs -- including a large reduction in the child death rate in $ala i. ER'/ SWA"SO"0 .$ala i is a landlocked state* it is one o) the ones that e tend to orry most a+out* and yet it has demonstrated that hen you )ocus attention on a pro+lem you can make progress..

&ast eek the World Bank also launched a ne .open data initiative.. The +ank ill make its data on living conditions around the orld pu+licly availa+le. O))icials say this ill make it easier to measure the e))ects o) policies and develop ne solutions to help the orld#s poor. And that#s the VOA Special English Development Report* ritten +y 2une Simms. 1ou can comment on our programs and learn a+out other development issues at voaspecialenglish.com. 1ou can )ind transcripts* $34s and podcasts. 1ou can also )ollo us on 5ace+ook* T itter* 1ouTu+e and iTunes at VOA &earning English. '#m Steve Em+er.