Only 35% of Sustainable Development Goal targets are on track, with nearly half stagnating and 18% regressing, the United Nations said in a sobering 2025 report, warning that "We are in a global development emergency."
The United Nations has sounded the alarm over slow progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), warning that the world is in a "global development emergency" with just five years remaining before the 2030 deadline.
According to The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025, released on Monday, only 35% of SDG targets are currently on track. Nearly half of the goals are stalled, while 18% have regressed since previous assessments.
Despite notable global gains in sectors such as health, education, energy, and digital access, the overall pace of progress is insufficient.
New HIV infections have declined by nearly 40% since 2010, while malaria prevention has saved 12.7 million lives and prevented 2.2 billion cases since 2000. Social protection now covers over half the global population, up significantly from a decade ago.
Educational progress has also been encouraging, with 110 million more children and youth enrolled in schools since 2015. Access to electricity reached 92% of the world’s population in 2023, and internet use surged from 40% in 2015 to 68% in 2024. Child marriage rates have declined, and more women are securing seats in parliaments around the world.
However, major gaps persist. More than More than 800 million people still live in extreme poverty. Billions remain without access to safe water and sanitation. The year 2024 was the hottest ever recorded, driven by accelerating climate change. Armed conflict claimed nearly 50,000 lives last year, while more than 120 million people were forcibly displaced.
Low- and middle-income countries faced crushing debt burdens in 2023, with debt servicing costs soaring to 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for urgent and united action across six critical areas: food systems, energy access, digital transformation, education, jobs and social protection, and climate and biodiversity.
"We are in a global development emergency," Guterres said. "The Sustainable Development Goals are still within reach — but only if we act with urgency, unity, and unwavering resolve."
UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua echoed this call, urging “urgent multilateralism” to tackle the interconnected global crises.
"The 2030 Agenda represents our collective recognition that our destinies are intertwined," Li said. "We must treat the SDGs not as aspirational goals but as non-negotiable commitments to current and future generations."
Another opposition-linked figure has been detained in Armenia following the country's parliamentary elections. Avetik Chalabyan, coordinator of the na...
Iran’s parliamentary speaker said on Wednesday regional countries alone should determine the Middle East’s political and security order, rejecting...
Ukraine said its forces had struck key energy installations inside Russia, including a gas processing plant and a helium facility in the Orenburg regi...
Critical minerals are becoming a key battleground in the growing economic rivalry between the G7 and China, as governments seek to secure supplies vit...
An unusual weather pattern known as an omega block is at the heart of the extreme heat sweeping across Europe. The phenomenon can trap hot air over th...
Critical minerals are becoming a key battleground in the growing economic rivalry between the G7 and China, as governments seek to secure supplies vital to the energy transition and advanced manufacturing.
A United Nations enquiry has accused Israeli authorities and security forces of deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza, saying the actions amounted to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, while also documenting war crimes against children in the occupied West Bank.
A United Nations official has warned that efforts to stabilise southern Syria remain stalled nearly a year after deadly sectarian violence in Sweida province, with tensions between Druze factions, Bedouin communities and state authorities still unresolved.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that Israeli settler groups could be added to a global blacklist for violations against children if attacks on Palestinian minors continue at current levels.
At least thirteen people have died and sixty-six have been injured following an explosion at Qatar's main liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing hub at Ras Laffan, authorities said on Sunday.
Tehran has agreed to let the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommence inspections of its nuclear programme, U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said. The U.S. and Iran have settled on a 60-day roadmap aimed at reaching a final deal, according to mediators Qatar and Pakistan.
A Ukrainian strike has damaged a school building in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to local authorities cited by the TASS news agency. No injuries were reported in the incident.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he will step down as Prime Minister and Labour Party leader in a tearful address outside Downing Street in London on Monday. Starmer's resignation comes two years after he won a landslide election victory.
U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran had agreed to nuclear inspections into "infinity, despite Tehran's denials, and that unfrozen Iranian assets would be used to buy humanitarian supplies from the United States.
Ukraine said its forces had struck key energy installations inside Russia, including a gas processing plant and a helium facility in the Orenburg region, as drone assaults increased across multiple areas.
Critical minerals are becoming a key battleground in the growing economic rivalry between the G7 and China, as governments seek to secure supplies vital to the energy transition and advanced manufacturing.
An unusual weather pattern known as an omega block is at the heart of the extreme heat sweeping across Europe. The phenomenon can trap hot air over the same region for days or even weeks, allowing temperatures to climb to dangerous levels.
Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo have surpassed 1,000, with health officials warning that the outbreak is spreading rapidly through displacement camps and across borders.
A North Korean soldier has been taken into custody by South Korean forces after crossing the heavily guarded border between the two countries, in what officials believe may be a defection.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment