In preparation for the July 2025 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the UN Secretariat has released the Secretary-General’s annual report on SDG progress. Updating on progress ten years into the implementation of the SDGs, the report “highlights areas requiring decisive action to reach the 2030 goalpost.”  

Titled, ‘Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals,’ the May 2025 report uses inputs from more than 50 international and regional organizations to assess progress made since 2015 against the global SDG indicator framework. It finds that the world is on track to meet or is making “moderate” progress on 35% of the 137 SDG targets with available data. It also shows that progress on 47% of the targets is insufficient, and 18% of the targets have regressed from the 2015 baseline. The report “reaffirms the imperative to intensify efforts to reverse these trends” in the five years that remain until the 2030 deadline.

The report presents notable regional and national achievements showing that “change is possible.” For example, extreme poverty has declined globally since 2025, despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the working poor are now 20 million fewer, and, for the first time, more than half of the world’s population is covered by at least one social protection benefit, representing an increase of nearly ten percentage points, from 42.8% in 2015 to 52.4% in 2023.  At the same time, the report acknowledges that over 700 million people still live in extreme poverty, and, due to compounded shocks and crises, the risk of falling (back) into poverty remains high.

The report reveals “mixed” progress towards ending hunger, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture, largely due to ongoing conflicts, global food crises, and climate-related challenges.

Progress on SDG 3 (good health and well-being) between 2015 and 2023 includes a drop in maternal mortality from 228 to 197 per 100,000 live births and a decrease in under-five mortality from 43 to 37 per 1,000 live births.

With global temperatures having crossed the 1.5°C threshold in 2024 and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels sitting at 151% above pre-industrial levels, climate action is “well below the level required to meet the commitments” under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change, according to the report.

On SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals), the report shows that while both official and private financial flows to developing countries have increased, in 2023, debt servicing costs for low-income countries (LICs) and middle-income countries (MICs) reached a record USD 1.4 trillion, with interest payments jumping an all-time high of 37.1%. Alongside a USD 4 trillion annual SDG investment gap, these numbers mean reduced national budget allocations for social services, hampering overall SDG progress.

To “reverse alarming trends and consolidate hard-won gains,” the report calls for urgent action around six “collectively agreed-upon” transitions to drive transformative change: food systems; energy access and affordability; digital connectivity; education; jobs and social protection; and climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

Highlighting sustainable development as a core pillar of multilateral cooperation, as reaffirmed by the Political Declaration of the 2023 SDG Summit and the 2024 Pact for the Future, the report underscores that “[s]ustained multilateral engagement is essential to keep the SDGs within reach.” It identifies the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), the Second UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake (UNFSS+4), the Second World Summit for Social Development, the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), the G20 Summit, and the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 30) as “timely and strategic platforms to advance our collective efforts on the 2030 Agenda.” [Publication: Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Report of the Secretary-General]