Further progress towards the millennium development goals (MDGs) requires much greater focus on the poorest and most marginalised communities, says research published by Unicef and Save the Children ahead of the Millennium Summit in New York later this month.

Unicef’s annual Progress for Children report indicates that, in the push to meet the development goals by their 2015 target, the very poor are falling further and further behind. Mortality rates for children under five are, on average, more than twice as high for the poorest 20% of households as for the richest 20%. And the poorest children are twice as likely to be underweight.

The report finds that although most developing countries are …