When historians of human development look back at 2005, they will view it as a turning point. The international community has an unprecedented opportunity to put in place the policies and resources that could make the next decade a genuine decade for development. Having set the bar in the Millennium Declaration, the world?s governments could set a course that will reshape globalization, give renewed hope to millions of the world?s poorest and most vulnerable people and create the conditions for shared prosperity and security. The business as usual alternative will lead towards a world tarnished by mass poverty, divided by deep inequalities and threatened by shared insecurities. In rich and poor countries alike future generations will pay a heavy price for failures of political leadership at the start of the 21st century.

This Report provides a basis for considering the scale of the challenge. By focusing on three pillars of international cooperation it highlights some problems that need to be tackled and the critical ingredients for achieving success. What is not in doubt is that, as a global community, we have the means to eradicate poverty and overcome the deep inequalities that divide countries and people. The fundamental question that remains to be answered five years after the Millennium Declaration was signed is whether the world?s governments have the resolve to break with past practice and act on their promise to the world?s poor. If ever there was a moment for decisive political leadership to advance the shared interests of humanity, that moment is now.

Progress viewed through the human development index: HDI is a composite indicator. It covers 3 dimensions of human welfare: income, education and health. Its purpose is not to give a complete picture of human development but to provide a measure that goes beyond income. The HDI is a barometer for changes in human well-being and for comparing progress in different regions.

Over the last decade the HDI has been rising across all developing regions, with the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa. Amid the overall progress, however, many countries suffered unprecedented reversals. Eighteen countries with a combined population of 460 million people registered lower scores on the HDI in 2003 than in 1990. The reversals have been heavily concentrated in 2 regions. Twelve of the countries with reversals are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over one-third of Sub-Saharan Africa?s population ? 240 million people ? live in countries that have suffered an HDI reversal. The former Soviet Union accounts for the other 6 countries in which the HDI slid backwards.

In Sub-Saharan Africa the lethal interaction of economic stagnation, slow progress in education and the spread of HIV/AIDS has produced a free fall in HDI ranking. Southern Africa accounts for some of the steepest declines ? a fall of 35 places, 23 places for Zimbabwe and 21 places for Botswana. Of the countries of the former Soviet Union the biggest declines were in Tajikistan, which fell 21 places, Ukraine, 17 places; and the Russian Federation, 15 places. The economic disruption that followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union has been one of the two drivers for decline in HDI ranking. The other is a drop in life expectancy. Russia fell 48 places in world life expectancy ranking from 1990 to 2003.