The immediate goals of the project are to:

Identify all human genes (believed to number ~30-40,000).
Determine the precise makeup of each of those genes by "sequencing" the pairs of chemical bases that make up DNA.
Develop an understanding of sequence variation, which is responsible for much of heredity, including inherited disease.
Continue the sequencing of non-human genomes (mice are among the non-human species under study).
Continue to train scientists to carry this work into the future.
Establish databases for the storage of this information.
Enhance the technology that will provide and store the information on the genome.
Make this information available to the public and private sectors.
Respond to the ethical, legal and social concerns raised by the project.

The Human Genome Project, however, hopes to do much more than merely establish a record of the order of the genes. Among its long-term goals are:

Obtaining an exact count of human genes, knowing the exact location of each,
and most importantly, understanding the specific function of each gene.
Understanding the molecular processes that regulate genes.
Characterizing the structure and organization of each chromosome-much of our DNA is noncoding, apparently redundant or seemingly without use, simply taking up space between the genes. Scientists hope to understand the function of those redundant or not as yet understood segments.
Examining the true roles that proteins play in our cells.
Mapping the proteome, the complete list of proteins our DNA can produce.
Determining the role that substitutions of one single base for another in an individual's DNA can play in disease.
Studying what genes are involved in determining complex traits.
Exploring diseases that result from the interactions of multiple genes.
Understanding developmental genetics, the role our genes play in behavior.
Applying the information learned from the genome project to systems biology, that is, describing the role of an organism in its natural community and the interrelations of multiple communities.