New York, 7 July 2026 — Since their adoption in 2015,
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs –
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-goals/)
have delivered results at scale – bringing access to
water, electricity and health care to billions. However,
progress remains uneven and insufficient. Without a decisive
push to rapidly scale up what works, the promise of the SDGs
risks slipping out of reach, according to The Sustainable
Development Goals Report 2026,
released today.
What a decade of evidence tells
us: the SDGs deliver results
Since 2015, sustained
investment, sound policies and international cooperation
have improved the lives of billions of people worldwide with
measurable gains across the SDGs. Nearly one billion people
gained access to safely managed drinking water and 1.2
billion to safely managed sanitation. New HIV infections
fell by 30 per cent between 2015 and 2024, and AIDS-related
deaths by 35 per cent. Electricity now reaches 92 per cent
of the world’s population. Internet access has surged, from
40 to 74 per cent. Social protection covers more than half
the global population for the first time in
history.
Behind these results is an important and
often overlooked achievement: the data revolution. A decade
ago, data was available for only half of all SDG indicators.
Today, a global database of more than 3.2 million data
points covers nearly every indicator — enabling countries
to identify where progress is accelerating, where gaps
persist and which policies are delivering
results.
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“Guided by the data in this report, our
vision of the 2030 Agenda remains within reach. Together,
let us make a decisive final push to achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals and build a healthy, prosperous future for
all,” said United Nations Secretary-General António
Guterres.
Why the world is falling short: overlapping
crises and a widening financing gap
Despite progress,
however, major challenges persist. Of the 139 SDG targets
with trend data, only 36 per cent are on track or making
moderate progress. Nearly half — 49 per cent — are
advancing too slowly, and 15 per cent have regressed below
2015 baselines.
One in ten people still live in
extreme poverty. Around 2.3 billion people face moderate or
severe food insecurity. More than 150 million children
remain stunted. Maternal mortality stands at nearly three
times the global target. None of the gender equality targets
are on track. The number of people affected by
climate-related disasters has more than doubled since 2015.
Escalating conflicts, climate change, slowing economic
growth, rising debt and a record decline in official
development assistance are compounding the shortfall and
disproportionately affecting the world’s most vulnerable
people.
What must happen now: scale up what
works
The report emphasizes that the SDGs remain the
world’s shared blueprint for peace, prosperity and
sustainability. The evidence accumulated over more than a
decade of implementation shows that meaningful progress is
achievable — but only when political commitment,
financing, innovation and international cooperation
align.
“More than a decade of implementation has
shown what is possible,” said Li Junhua, United Nations
Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.
“The task now is to scale up what works — with the
urgency, investment and cooperation needed to fulfill the
promise of the 2030 Agenda.”
Closing the
approximately $4 trillion annual SDG financing gap —
through the Sevilla Commitment and the reform of the
international financial architecture — is essential. This
must be matched by stronger data systems through the
Medellín Framework to direct investment to the most
vulnerable first. Accelerating the energy transition,
harnessing frontier technologies including artificial
intelligence for sustainable development, advancing gender
equality as a cross-cutting priority, and reinforcing
multilateral cooperation will also be critical to
success.
The choices made over the next four years —
on financing, cooperation and collective crisis response —
will have lasting effects for generations to come, according
to the report.
Additional key facts and
figures
Progress
- Most regions will be
close to eradicating extreme poverty by 2030, except
sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and
Oceania (excluding Australia and New
Zealand). - Between 2012 and 2024, stunting prevalence
among children under five declined, resulting in 30.2
million fewer stunted children worldwide. - The share
of births attended by skilled health personnel rose from 80
to 87 per cent between 2015 and 2025 and is on track to
reach the 90 per cent target by 2030. - Between 2019
and 2025, 99 legal reforms were enacted to remove
discriminatory laws and establish gender equality
frameworks; women now hold 27.4 per cent of parliamentary
seats, up from 22.3 per cent in 2015. - Child labour
fell by more than 20 million between 2020 and
2024. - Global unemployment stood at a near-historic
low of 4.9 per cent in 2025. - Renewable electricity
generating capacity per capita grew at a record 14 per cent
between 2023 and 2024 and is now 2.2 times its 2015
level.
Challenges
- The global extreme
poverty rate is projected to reach only 10 per cent by 2026
— just 3 percentage points below its 2015 level, far short
of the target to end extreme poverty. - 273 million
children and young people remain out of school; one in five
young people aged 15–24 is not in employment, education or
training, and young people are nearly four times more likely
to be unemployed than adults. - An estimated 1.16
billion people — roughly one in four urban residents —
live in slums or informal settlements. - Official
development assistance fell by a record 23.1 per cent in
2025 — the largest annual decline ever recorded —
returning to roughly 2015 levels. - The global refugee
population reached 440 per 100,000 people by mid-2025, more
than double the level of a decade
earlier. - Extinction risk is worsening across all
species groups; protection of key biodiversity areas
averaged only 45 per cent in 2025. - Violent conflict
has surged to its highest level in decades. As of December
2025, more than 117.8 million people were forcibly displaced
worldwide, erasing years of development gains in
months. - Global temperatures in 2025 reached 1.43°C
above pre-industrial levels and atmospheric carbon dioxide
hit its highest concentration in two million
years. - The external debt of low- and middle-income
countries reached a record $8.9 trillion in
2024.
For more information, please visit:
https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2026
