19 July 2016: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report 2016 and the Global SDG Indicators Database during the Ministerial Segment of the 2016 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). The report provides an overview of progress on each of the 17 SDGs, while the Database provides country-level data on the SDGs used to compile the annual UN Secretary-General report on ‘Progress towards the SDGs’ (E/2016/75).

The annual report was released on 30 June 2016. It notes that about one in eight people still lives in extreme poverty, nearly 800 million people suffer from hunger, over one billion people live without electricity and over two billion experience water scarcity. The report uses selected indicators for which data is available to highlight critical gaps and challenges. The SDG Report 2016 is expected to serve as a benchmark for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’s 15-year implementation period.

“We are off to a good start,” Ban observed when launching the report. “We must all learn, in national governments, in local authorities, in business and civil society, and also at the UN, to think differently,” Ban said. He underscored the importance of cooperation among all parts of the UN family to ensure SDG implementation and “break down silos.” He called on the international community to “pledge never to rest until we have achieved a world of peace, dignity and opportunity for all.”

The report underscores the importance of targeted action to address those who are the furthest behind, according to Ban. For the 2030 Agenda to be considered fully implemented, Ban stressed the need to reach “those who are the furthest behind…first.” He underscored the importance of data and indicators on all groups, particularly those that are often unaccounted for.

Both reports are based on the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators’ (IAEG-SDGs) global indicator framework, on which the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) agreed in March 2016. The UN Statistics Division (UNSD) produced the Database using data compiled through the UN system. [UN Press Release] [UNSC Press Release] [SDGs Report] [SDG Indicators Database] [Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals – Report of the Secretary-General] [UN Secretary-General’s Statement [IISD RS Story on Annual Progress Report]