16 December 2014
MY World Report Highlights People’s Priorities for Post-2015
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Citizens around the world want a good education, better healthcare and better job opportunities, according to a report summarizing the MY World survey, the largest survey ever conducted by the UN.

The report, ‘We the Peoples: Celebrating 7 Million Voices,' presents respondents' selections of six out of 16 priorities for a better life.

word we want -report15 December 2014: Citizens around the world want a good education, better healthcare and better job opportunities, according to a report summarizing the MY World survey, the largest survey ever conducted by the UN. The report, titled ‘We the Peoples: Celebrating 7 Million Voices,’ presents respondents’ selections of six out of 16 priorities for a better life.

The UN Millennium Campaign and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, hosted a ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 12 December 2014, to present the report. Observing that 70% of MY World voters are younger than 30, Alhendawi said the report indicates the commitment of young people “to imaging and creating a better future.”

The report highlights important trends for the post-2015 agenda, said UN Millennium Campaign Director Corinne Woods in her remarks. Woods said the report shows that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) “continue to be important but we also see new issues which people prioritize highly,” and noted the uniformity of the results, which she said shows “there is more that unites us than divides us.”

After education, healthcare and jobs, citizens ranked their priorities as follows: an honest and responsive government; affordable and nutritious food; protection against crime and violence; access to clean water and sanitation; support for people who can’t work; equality between men and women; better transport and roads; reliable energy at home; freedom from discrimination and persecution; political freedoms; protecting forests, rivers and oceans; phone and internet access; and actions taken on climate change.

The report analyzes responses by gender, age, country, education, and Human Development Index (HDI) level, noting, for instance, that the Americas and Oceania rank affordable and nutritious food highly, while Asia and Europe rank protection against crime and violence higher than other regions. African voters ranked better roads and transport the highest priority. Protecting forests, rivers and oceans ranks higher in regions with an environmental tourism industry, such as Oceania and South America, and among countries with a very high HDI level. The report highlights other correlations: for example, more educated voters place a higher priority on equality between men and women; and, as HDI increases, the importance of action taken on climate change increases.

To date, over 7 million people have voted in the MY World survey, including over five million votes via paper ballots. MY World will continue to collect votes until the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda in September 2015. [UN Press Release] [Publication: We the Peoples – Celebrating 7 Million Voices]

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