The financial crisis, climate change, political and social instability, and persistent inequality have worsened the odds that Africa—and others in the developing world—will meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Pakistan has experienced uneven performance in achieving human development goals. These poor results are due to a lack of investment: the country spends only about 2.5% of GDP on health and education, whereas most countries that have grown on a sustained basis have spent at least 7%.