A family living on the streets of Calcutta. While the world has made significant progress on MDG 1, the difficulty of securing decent work in the global financial crisis has slowed that progress. Approximately one billion people are still likely to be living on US$1.25 per day, or less, in 2015 (UN).
> Read more on UN website. Photo:ILO/NC

A demonstration in France. Even as increased employment aides development, many jobs are not decent and so hurt progress. In 2005, for instance, 28.1 per cent of working youth lived on less than US$1.25 per day despite their employment. In recognition of the importance of decent work for realizing the MDGs, the UN added Target 1B in 2008.
> Read more on UN website. Photo:ILO/Crozet M.

A school in Pakistan that teaches children previously employed as soccer ball sewers. As of 2010, 69 million children were out of school, many the victims of child labour (UN). Without education, many in this generation will be completely unable to escape lives of poverty.
> Read more on UN website. Photo:ILO/Crozet M.

A woman selling handicrafts in Beijing. Gender discrimination oppresses billions and robs societies of their full talent pools. Many women find barriers to education, fair pay and social protections. The rate of unemployment for women is 6 per cent higher than it is for men, and women make up the majority of the world's poor.
> Read more on UN website. Photo:ILO/Crozet M.

A visit to a health care center in Kenya. Nearly nine million children under the age of five die every year, or about one every four seconds. Approximately two-thirds of these deaths result from easily preventable causes like diarrhea, while the excessive work demands put on many new mothers represents a significant threat as well (UN).
> Read more on UN website. Photo:ILO/Lissac P.

A pregnant car mechanic in Sweden. More than half a million women die during pregnancy and childbirth every year (UN Millennium Campaign). In addition, 99 per cent of those deaths occur in the developing world, and children who lose their mothers are nearly ten times more likely to die prematurely than those who have not (UN). At the current rate, MDG 5 targets will not be achieved by 2015.
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ILO workers in Geneva make an HIV/AIDS human ribbon. The prevalence of many deadly illnesses, especially HIV/AIDS, has threatened and even reversed progress on development and decent work. Today, 33.4 million people live with HIV/AIDS, while nearly a million people died of malaria last year, 89 per cent of them in Africa (UN).
> Read more on UN website. Photo:ILO/pool photo ILC

A farmer living in Cambodia. The world has come to recognize the grave threats of climate change, environmental degradation and rapidly diminishing fresh water supplies. While unsustainable production at work contributes greatly to these issues, sustainable practices and ILO-supported green jobs can help reverse them.
> Read more on UN website. Photo:ILO/Sovannara K.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (left) and ILO Director-General Juan Somavia (right), at the ILO Summit on the Global Jobs Crisis in June 2009. The final MDG represents the commitment of all levels of society, from individual citizens to whole countries and international multilateral institutions like the ILO, to development and globalization that is fair and effective.
> Read more on UN website. Photo:ILO/pool photo ILC