UN Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025

On 14th July 2025, the United Nations released its Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025, revealing that global progress on the 2030 Agenda has stalled or regressed for over a third of targets, posing a serious threat to meeting the goals on time.

Key Points

Alarming Setbacks: 35% of measurable targets under 14 of 17 SDGs are stagnant or reversing.
Critical Goals Hit Hard: Zero Hunger (SDG2), Quality Education (SDG4), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG6), Decent Work (SDG8), and Reduced Inequalities (SDG10) show 50–57% of targets backsliding.
Worsening Food Insecurity: SDG2 is most at risk — global hunger remains high, affecting 713–757 million people in 2023 (9.1% of population), up from 7.5% in 2019.
Regional Hunger Trends: Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest hunger rate (23.2%), while Southern Asia has the highest number of undernourished people (281 million).
Rising Food Prices: 50% of countries saw elevated food costs in 2023; inflation hit Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Asia hardest.
Poverty & Water Access: Over 800 million people remain in extreme poverty. In 2024, 2.2 billion lacked safe drinking water, 3.4 billion had no sanitation access, and 1.7 billion lacked basic hygiene.