SDG 3: Ensure Healthy Lives and Promote Well-being for All at All Ages

The 2025 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July will conduct in-depth reviews of progress towards five SDGs. SDG 3 (good health and well-being) is one of these Goals. This brief reviews the status of SDG 3 and its interlinkages with other Goals.

When UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs in 2015, they committed to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages. Ten years into implementation and five years remaining until the 2030 deadline, none of the targets of SDG 3 have been achieved. Despite some areas showing gains, progress in others has stagnated or reversed.

According to an SDG 3 background note, published by the UN Secretariat ahead of the HLPF, health is about more than just the health sector. Because health is shaped by social, economic, environmental, and other factors, integrated, whole-of-society approaches are needed to create policies that shape and sustain healthy lives. The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, biodiversity loss, air pollution, urbanization, demographic shifts, and aging populations are among the trends posing challenges to progress towards good health and well-being for all.

So where do we stand on SDG 3? Since its last HLPF review in 2021, results are mixed.

Progress has been achieved on under-five mortality (SDG target 3.2). Globally, deaths of newborns and children under five years of age are at a historic low of 4.9 million childhood deaths in 2022, down from 6 million in 2015. The under-five mortality rate in 2022 was 37 deaths per 1,000 live births, reflecting a 14% reduction from 2015. As of 2022, 134 countries had already met the target for under-five mortality (at least 25 deaths per 1,000 live births). Yet, progress on maternal mortality (SDG target 3.1) has been uneven, with wide disparities across regions and income levels, with Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia accounting for 87% of all maternal deaths.

Despite regional variations, reproductive health and family planning (SDG target 3.7) showed significant progress. The global adolescent birth rate among girls between 15 and 19 years of age fell from 66 per 1,000 in 2000 to 38 per 1,000 in 2024 and is projected to decline further. Among girls between the ages of 10 and 14, the rate decreased more than threefold, from 3.5 to 1 per 1,000 between 2000 and 2024.

Progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) (SDG target 3.8) has stagnated. While the UHC coverage index grew from 45 in 2000 to 68 in 2021, progress after 2015 has been minimal, having stalled since 2019. In fact, many people face significant financial hardship when they get sick. The proportion of the global population affected by catastrophic out-of-pocket health spending increased from 9.6% in 2000 to 13.5% in 2019, with low-income populations affected the most. An intensified commitment to reach those furthest behind is needed to achieve UHC.

Efforts towards ending communicable diseases (SDG target 3.3), including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases, have prevented millions of deaths since 2015, but progress has been uneven. In May 2025, countries adopted the first global agreement on pandemic preparedness and response. Despite global progress in reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) (SDG target 3.4), the annual rate of reduction slowed down significantly between 2015 and 2019.

No progress has been achieved in substance abuse prevention and treatment (SDG target 3.5). Globally, in 2022, only about one in eleven people with substance use disorders received treatment. From 2015 to 2022, coverage decreased from 11% to less than 9%.

More than half of all Member States reduced road traffic deaths and injuries (SDG target 3.6) between 2010 and 2021, even as the global motor vehicle fleet more than doubled. At the same time, in 2021, road traffic injuries were a leading cause of death globally for children and youth five to 29 years of age.

Access to vaccines (SDG targets 3.8 and 3.b) is severely limited in fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable settings, with 55% of unvaccinated children residing in 31 countries in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings.

According to the UN, countries can implement policies and actions to maximize synergies, mitigate trade-offs, and drive transformation. These include:

Accelerating progress towards UHC with targeted policies and mixed financing;
Prioritizing investments in primary healthcare and preventive services;
Prioritizing maternal health and safeguarding comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services;
Protecting the health of humans, animals, and the environment; and
Strengthening and protecting the health and care workforce.

Tackling the data gaps, including with technology and community-led initiatives, and ensuring access to essential medicines are equally important for realizing healthy lives.

HLPF 2025 will convene in New York, US, from 14-23 July. In addition to SDG 3, it will review SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 14 (life below water), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals). The HLPF’s 2025 theme is ‘Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals for leaving no one behind.’ [HLPF 2025][ECOSOC newsletter announcing the HLPF | subscribe to the ECOSOC newsletter]