A Synthetic Indicator of Progress Towards the Millennium Development Goals 2, 3 and 4 in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) of Asia

Abstract

The aim of this article is to measure progress towards the United Nations’ (UN’s) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2, 3 and 4 in Asia’s least developed countries (LDCs) by studying a group of countries that suffer particularly intensely from poverty. To achieve this goal, we use Pena’s distance method (DP2) to compose a synthetic indicator of the variables of MDG levels for MDGs 2, 3 and 4 in Asia’s LDCs through territorial classification of the DP2 for 2013, the last year for which data are available. The index also permits study of the impact of each variable individually to determine countries’ disparities in the variables associated with three of the MDGs. This analysis is particularly useful for the post-2015 agenda in a scenario such as Asia’s LDCs, which are beset by profound social and economic inequalities.