Our contribution to the Millennium Development Goals
In 2000, the United Nations (UN) set out the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight global targets for governments to achieve by 2015, ranging from halving world poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS.
While primary responsibility for delivering these goals lies with governments, business does have an important part to play.
The principal way in which we can make a contribution to the MDGs is through the products we sell and the wealth and jobs our core business operations create. Unilever is one of the world's largest food and home and personal care companies with operations in around 100 countries, and products sold in about 50 more. We make products that meet people's basic needs for nutrition and hygiene and we employ around 179 000 people worldwide. Through our core business, our most important contributions are to the MDGs that address poverty and hunger alleviation, health and environmental sustainability.
We can also make a difference through our local community investment programmes around the world. We believe that these contribute to all eight of the MDGs. In 2006, we contributed €78 million to community programmes focused on education, health, nutrition, environmental sustainability and economic development. Examples of these initiatives can be found in the case studies section of our site.
The index in the related links below provides an overview of our contribution to each of the MDGs.
