UN Report: Progress on Sustainable Development Goals Lagging, Multiple Crises Exacerbate Challenges

One in ten people are still in extreme poverty, over two billion face moderate or severe food insecurity and the number affected by climate-related disasters has more than doubled since 2015. That's according to data from the United Nations published in a report today.

A little over a decade ago, the international community agreed to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change. The UN set up 17 goals with 169 targets to be reached by 2030, such as zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, good health and well-being as well as access to affordable and clean energy.

While there has been progress in some areas, including almost one billion people gaining access to safely managed drinking water, a drop in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths and electricity reaching 92% of the global population, many other areas are way off track.

Nearly half the targets are advancing too slowly, and 15% have fallen below 2015 baselines.

Global extreme poverty is projected to reach 10% by 2026, just 3 percentage points below 2015 levels. About one in four urban residents live in slums or informal settlements. In addition, the risk of extinction is worsening across all species groups and global temperatures reached 1.43 degrees Celsius (2.57 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels in 2025. The concentration of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere is at its highest for two million years.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries to step up as official development assistance plummeted by a record 23% in 2025.

"Together, let us make a decisive final push to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and build a healthy, prosperous future for all," he said.

Falling short: Overlapping crises and a widening financial gap

Progress has been hampered by surging violent conflict, undoing years of development in a couple of months.

While the annual financing gap for SDGs in developing countries stands at around $4 trillion (€3.5 trillion), global military spending has reached record highs.

The war in the Middle East has disrupted maritime traffic, blocking energy, fertilizer and food corridors. This could spell severe long-term consequences for global food security, particularly in Africa and parts of Asia.

Millions of people struggle to get enough food, access to water

Though global hunger slightly decreased in 2024, it was still higher than in 2015. Over 8% of the world's population experience chronic hunger, and more than two billion people don't have access to adequate food at some point during the year.

Progress was mostly due to post-pandemic economic recoveries in Southern Asia and Latin America. Hunger continued to rise in Western Asia and Africa.

Billions of people have gained access to clean drinking water, but water stress (how much fresh water is withdrawn relative to how much is available) remains severe in several regions. Ten percent of the world's population lives in countries with high or critical water stress levels.

Nearly half of the world's countries have reported declining river flows, with Latin America, the Caribbean and parts of Central and Southern Asia being hit the hardest.

As climate risks are escalating, vulnerability continues to grow

The years from 2015 to 2025 were the hottest on record and greenhouse gas emissions continue an upward trend, with 2024 marking a new record high.

The ocean, which absorbs around 90% of the excess heat accumulating in the atmosphere, reached the highest level on record for the ninth year in a row. Warmer oceans mean melting ice caps which in turn drive sea level rise. They also fuel tropical storms and degrade marine ecosystems such as coral reefs.

Natural disasters exacerbated by climate change continue to claim lives, destroy infrastructure, reduce income and cement debt and reliance on humanitarian aid. While the number of deaths caused by natural disasters has fallen by 65% over the last decade, those affected by disasters have more than doubled.

Better access to electricity; sub-Saharan Africa left behind

Modest increases over the past few years mean 92% of people now have access to electricity, but over 650 million more are still going without. Projections suggest that access will only increase half a percentage point by 2030.

Central and Southern Asia have made the most progress, while sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 86% of people without electricity globally.

The share of renewable energy continued to grow but not at the scale needed to achieve international energy, climate and development objectives. Installed renewable energy-generating capacity reached a record global high in 2024, with developing countries driving this growth.

Slums on the rise as housing crisis ramps up

While some regions have seen a decline in the share of people living in slums, the total global number has surged to over one billion people.

"We need to act and accelerate," UN Habitat's Executive Director Anaclaudia Rossbach told DW. "We are living a global housing crisis," she said, adding that one in four people don't have access to safe drinking water, sanitation and secure housing.

"If we don't address housing, informal settlements right, all SDGs are at risk," she said, calling housing a "roof" necessary to achieve all SDGs.

"How can you improve access to education, if kids don't have a safe place to stay at home and do their homework. How can you address health targets, if you don't have healthy homes and healthy neighborhoods."

Africa and Southeast Asia with high numbers of informal settlements are particularly at risk, because these regions stand to receive about two billion more people in cities, she added.

What now?

The UN is urgently calling on countries to close the financing gap, accelerate the energy transition and reinforce multilateral cooperation, among other things. It says the choices made over the next four years are critical to reaching the 2030 goals, which will have lasting effects for generations to come.