The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025 marks the tenth annual stocktaking of global progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With the 2030 deadline only five years away, the report delivers a stark assessment: the Sustainable Development Goals have improved millions of lives, but the current pace of change is insufficient to fully achieve all the Goals by 2030.

The report reveals real and substantial development gains during the past decade. Since 2015, the world has made notable strides in expanding access to education, improving maternal and child health, and bridging the digital divide. Effective prevention efforts have significantly reduced the burdens of infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria. Access to electricity has continued to grow, and renewable energy is now the fastest-rising source of power worldwide.

Yet progress has been fragile and unequal. Millions still face extreme poverty, hunger, inadequate housing, and a lack of basic services. Women, people with disabilities, and marginalized communities continue to face systemic disadvantages. Escalating conflicts, climate chaos, rising inequalities, and soaring debt servicing costs are holding back further advancements.

Despite these setbacks, national and local success stories showcased in the report – such as universal electricity access in 45 countries and the elimination of neglected tropical diseases in 54 countries – demonstrate that accelerated progress is not only possible but already happening. The report calls for action in six priority areas: food systems, energy access, digital transformation, education, jobs and social protection, and climate and biodiversity. It also urges increased international cooperation and sustained investment to turn the ambition of the 2030 Agenda into reality.

With just five years to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, we need to shift into overdrive. 

António Guterres Secretary-General, United Nations