This report brings together evidence from Latin America, South/Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to demonstrate the relationship between social exclusion and the MDGs and to deepen understanding of its underlying dynamics. It focuses particularly on those countries for which data are available on how socially excluded groups are faring in relation to MDG-related objectives concerned with extreme poverty, children’s education and maternal and child health. These data support the main contention of this report: the persistence of intersecting inequalities undermines progress on the MDGs and betrays the promise of social justice contained in the Millennium Declaration.