The United Nations (UN). The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. It is currently made up of 193 Member States. The mission and work of the United Nations are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG). In September 2000, world leaders committed their nations to achieving eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. These goals range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.

Measuring progress towards the SDG. Our World in Data uses official statistics from the UN and other international organizations to track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDG tracker is an open-access resource where users can track and explore global and country-level progress towards each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals through interactive data visualizations.