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UN SDG Report 2025 reveals alarming stagnation or reversal in 35% of targets
Critical goals like Zero Hunger, Quality Education, and Clean Water most affected
Global hunger remains high, driven by conflict and climate issues, while economic recovery is inconsistent
The report calls for urgent multilateral action and financial reform to address these challenges and accelerate progress
Global progress towards the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has stagnated or reversed, with just five years remain to meet the goals, warned a UN report released July 14, 2025.
Some 35 per cent of the targets under 14 of the 17 goals with measurable data have halted or are moving backward, according to the 10th edition of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025.
The findings of the report are particularly alarming for five critical goals — Zero Hunger (SDG2), Quality Education (SDG4), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG6), Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG8) and Reduced Inequalities (SDG10) — where 50-57 per cent of the targets with data have stalled or deteriorated.
Four other goals — Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG12), Life Below Water (SDG14), Life on Land (SDG15), and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG16) — too are not faring much better, with 40 to 42 per cent of their measurable targets off-track.
The situation is most critical under SDG2 (Zero Hunger), where four out of seven tracked targets are regressing. The report revealed that global hunger, measured by the prevalence of undernourishment, has not improved in the past three years — and continues to remain high after a sharp rise during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, an estimated 9.1 per cent of the global population — between 713 and 757 million people — were affected by hunger, up from 7.5 per cent in 2019.
Sub-Saharan Africa saw the highest rate, with 23.2 per cent of its population facing hunger, while Southern Asia remained home to the largest absolute number of hungry people — 281 million, flagged the UN report.
As food insecurity continues to deepen, a staggering 2.33 billion people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2023 — 383 million more than in 2019.
These persistently high levels of global hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition are driven by conflict, climate variability and economic instability, which are further compounded by challenges such as inequalities and lack of access to food, the report said.
Global food costs have decreased slightly from their highest point but continue to be elevated. In 2023, around 50 per cent of countries faced food prices that were moderately to unusually high, which is three times the average before the pandemic.
The proportion of countries in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia facing elevated food prices has doubled over the last year, driven by increasing rice costs, trade limitations and climate-related disturbances. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have also been severely affected, experiencing worsening food inflation for the second year in a row.
The findings come as the 2025 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) — the UN’s annual review of global SDG progress that began on July 14, 2025 — is reviewing five goals, including SDG8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG14 (Life Below Water).
The report indicated that half of the monitored objectives under SDG8 have either stagnated or declined, highlighting an inconsistent and delicate economic recovery. It pointed out ongoing challenges in generating jobs, particularly within the informal sector and for young people. Since 2015, the proportion of workers in informal jobs has slightly increased, according to the report.
By 2024, 57.8 per cent of the global workforce was informally employed, meaning they were not adequately covered by social security arrangements, legal protection or workplace safety measures.
Youth unemployment, while improving to 12.9 per cent in 2024, remains triple the adult rate of 3.7 per cent Under SDG14, 40 per cent of the targets with data are moving in the wrong direction raising concerns over worsening marine pollution, declining fish stocks, and the degradation of ocean ecosystems.
However, SDG 14 is the least funded goal, stated delegates in a declaration adopted at the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UN-OC 3).
SDG3 (Good Health and Well-Being) — another focus of this year’s HLPF — also shows worrying signs. Two of its twelve tracked targets, including those related to maternal mortality and universal health coverage, have stagnated. Many others remain vulnerable, as health systems across the world continue to struggle with post-pandemic strain, deep-rooted inequalities, and chronic underfunding.
Despite the setbacks, the report highlights some areas of meaningful progress. New HIV infections have declined by nearly 40 per cent since 2010. Malaria prevention efforts have averted 2.2 billion cases and saved 12.7 million lives since 2000.
Social protection coverage has also expanded significantly, now reaching more than half the global population—a marked increase over the past decade. Yet these gains are insufficient to offset the slow pace elsewhere.
The report warned that more than 800 million people still live in extreme poverty. Without a dramatic acceleration, 8.9 per cent of the world’s population will still be in extreme poverty by 2030 — falling short of SDG1 (No Poverty). In 2024, 2.2 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water, 3.4 billion had no access to safely managed sanitation and 1.7 billion lacked basic hygiene.
Meanwhile, 2024 was the hottest year on record, with global temperatures 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels. Worryingly, official development assistance — a lifeline for many developing countries — fell by 7.1 per cent in 2024, ending five years of consecutive growth. So, the report provides a reality check under the challenging global context where the temperatures continue to break records in 2025 too.
As per the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), there is an 80 per cent chance that at least one of the next five years will surpass 2024 as the hottest on record. With just five years, left to achieve the goals by 2030, climate change and extreme weather events threaten the achievement of SDGs, the WMO alerted. Amid the geopolitical conflicts which are on the rise and rising debt burden, the developing countries face an annual $4 trillion SDG financing gap.
Progress is impossible without unlocking financing at scale said António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, in his opening remarks at the press conference during launch of the report. “The recent Sevilla Commitment reflected a commitment to get the engine of development revving again. Through reform of the international financial architecture, real action on debt relief, and tripling the lending capacity of multilateral development banks so countries can better access capital at scale and at a reasonable cost,” Guterres said.
While the world is not moving fast enough to achieve the SDGs amid overlapping crises, “This is not a moment for despair, but for determined action,” said Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. “We have the knowledge, tools and partnerships to drive transformation. What we need now is urgent multilateralism — a recommitment to shared responsibility and sustained investment,” stated Junhua.
The report outlined a roadmap for acceleration, calling on governments, civil society, and the private sector to act across six priority areas: Transforming food systems, expanding energy access, accelerating digital transformation, ensuring inclusive education, creating decent jobs and social protection, and safeguarding climate and biodiversity.
It also emphasised the importance of robust data systems, urging adoption of the Medellín Framework for Action — a global initiative from the 2024 UN World Data Forum — to ensure timely, accurate data drives decision-making.
Final summary: The UN SDG Report 2025 highlights a concerning stagnation or reversal in 35 per cent of targets, with critical goals like Zero Hunger, Quality Education and Clean Water most affected. Global hunger remains high due to conflict and climate issues, while economic recovery is inconsistent. The report calls for urgent multilateral action and financial reform to address these challenges and accelerate progress.
