GENEVA, April 27 (Reuters) - Many women, children and families living in the countryside are being excluded from the benefits of economic growth in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the United Nations said on Friday.

In Tajikistan and Albania, the number of children below the age of five suffering from stunted growth can be compared to levels in the poorest parts of the world, three U.N. agencies said.

In five of the countries, half of the population was still living on less than $2.15 a day, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe and the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) said.

The gap between men's and women's average wages across the region is more than 30 percent, they said in a report on progress towards meeting United Nations' development targets.

The Millenium Development Goals lay down a series of social and economic goals, including poverty reduction and health, that countries should achieve by 2015.

The situation in rural areas was particularly serious, with less than 30 percent of homes connected to regular water supply in half the region's countries, compared to 50 to 80 percent for the overall population, the agencies said.

"Too many children, women and families in rural areas of our region are not doing well," said Shahnaz Kianian-Firouzgar, of UNICEF's central and eastern europe and commonwealth of independent states division. "They and their families are excluded from the current economic recovery."

In its most recent growth forecasts released earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States were on track to outpace world output in 2007 and 2008, extending their strong recent economic performance.

The Washington-based economic monitor said it expected economic growth in Central and Eastern Europe of 5.5 percent this year and 5.3 percent in 2008. For the Commonwealth of Independent States, excluding Russia, the IMF forecasted growth rates of 8.3 percent this year and 7.5 percent in 2008.

World output is seen at 4.9 percent both this year and next.

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