It is known that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a global action plan to reduce the main indicators of the poverty. Back in 2000, Tajikistan signed the United Nations Millennium Declaration and took up the actions towards achieving all eight MDGs, put forward in this Declaration, by 2015. The process to meet the goals has been uneven, although much attention is paid to the implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and the National Development Strategy (NDS) in Tajikistan, the two strategic papers that represent a detailed reflection of the MDGs in respect to the country’s goals and targets.

The current report by its nature is quite different from the previous ones, since it aims to assess the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on the pace and progress towards the MDGs in Tajikistan. In addition, it provides a detailed summary of the new challenges, such as the lowered level of education of young people, increased unemployment, a worsening in drinking water quality, deterioration of sanitation, the difficulties with energy supply, onset and the rapid spread of infectious diseases, malnutrition prevalence and food crisis, among others.