Still a long way to go

The Lebanon Millennium Development Goals Report 2013–2014, launched at the Grand Serail in September 2014, is the country’s national report outlining the progress in, and main challenges to, achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), agreed upon by 189 countries during the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. It follows two similar national reports published in 2003 and 2008, and an updated interim MDG report in 2011. The 2013–2014 report comes at a critical moment for Lebanon, with an unprecedented number of Syrian refugees spread across the country, a period of political instability, security risks, economic pressures, and social and humanitarian challenges. It also comes a year before the 2015 deadline for attainment of the MDGs and aims to present the country’s track record. All recent available information was gathered to draw a realistic picture of where Lebanon stands now, and give direction on how it could deal with emerging issues