Sustainable Development Report 2023

For the third year in a row, global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been static, and there is a risk that the gap in SDG outcomes between high-income countries (HICs) and low-income countries (LICs) will be larger in 2030 than when the goals were universally agreed upon in 2015, reveals the latest Sustainable Development Report (SDR) published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in June 2023.

The SDR includes the SDG Index and Dashboards ranking the performance of all UN Member States on the SDGs and is produced by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). Despite the grim news, the report demonstrates that while the world is off track at the mid-point of the SDGs, now is the time for countries to double down on SDG progress by endorsing a deep reform of the global financial architecture and implementing the SDG Stimulus to close the significant financing gap facing developing and emerging countries.

The SDR shows that based on the current pace of progress since 2015, none of the goals will be achieved by 2030, and on average, less than 20 per cent of the SDG targets are on track to be achieved. While from 2015–2019, the world was making some modest progress on the SDGs, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and simultaneous global crises and setbacks, progress has stalled and is one full point below the projected level based on pre-pandemic trends. Furthermore, the report highlights that there is a risk that the gap in SDG outcomes between HICs and LICs will be larger in 2030 (29 points) than it was in 2015 (28 points) – underscoring the danger of losing a decade of progress towards convergence globally.

Some of the indicators that experienced the most significant reversals in progress include subjective wellbeing, access to vaccination, poverty and the unemployment rate. SDGs related to hunger, sustainable diets and health outcomes (SDG 2 and SDG 3) are particularly off-track, as are terrestrial and marine biodiversity (SDGs 14 and 15), air and plastic pollution (SDG 11 and SDG 12), and strong institutions and peaceful societies (SDG 16). On average, since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, the world made some progress in strengthening access to key infrastructure, covered notably under SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).

(SDSN/ile)

Visit the website of the Sustainable Development Report 2023