Stats from the UN paint a sobering picture of progress on the Global Goals

Data released at the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development outlines progress and challenges to achieving the 2030 Agenda

Every year global development experts, stakeholders, and international delegates gather in July for the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development. This two week assembly, and the related side events, represent the highest concentration of SDG data and evaluative discussion anywhere. From key documents such as the SDG Report, to the plethora of Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs), to countless documents from plenary and breakout sessions, the amount of data released is staggering.

With so much going on, what statistics should we be paying attention to?

Our team at SDGCounting spent weeks following sessions and analyzing documents to bring together the most import data for those interested in following progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

If you wish to jump to a particular topic, follow the links below:

• What’s the Data on the Data?
• Global Progress on the SDGs
  - COVID-19 and other Health Issues
  - Poverty, Hunger and Employment
  - Vulnerable Populations
  - Environment
  - Conflicts, Refugees and Global Cooperation
• Voluntary National Reviews
• Conclusion

What’s the Data on the Data?

Since SDGCounting focuses on how data is being used and shared, we were pleased to see four pages of the SDG Report focus on “high-quality, timely and inclusive data.” The highlights of this section include:

• With the COVID pandemic, the need for data increased while the ability to gather data was interrupted. Many countries, especially those needing it the most, cut funding for statistical activities.
• Statistical offices employed a variety of non-traditional data sources to achieve their mandates, such as mobile phone data, satellite imagery and citizen-generated data, along with new modes of data collection, such as web- or telephone-based or mix-mode interviews.
• Countries with better equipped data services were able to react more aggressively and effectively during the pandemic.
• The need for disagreggated data streams is more apparent than ever but is still an area many countries struggle with. This is particularly important for serving the most vulnerable populations.

Despite some progress, serious data gaps persist in SDG monitoring.

• The number of indicators included in the global SDG database increased from 115 in 2016 to 217 in 2022.
• For eight of the 17 SDGs, fewer than half of the 193 countries or areas
  have internationally comparable data from 2015 or later.
• In May 2020, 96 per cent of countries put a full or partial stop to face-to-face data collection due to national lockdown measures. One year later, in May 2021, disruptions in face-to-face data collection were still occurring in 57 per cent of countries. Countries that only relied on in-person data collection before the pandemic were heavily affected, while countries with experience in remote data collection, or that had experimented with it, were at a considerable advantage.
• Only 38 per cent of countries had the required monthly mortality data from January 2020 to December 2021.
• The digital divide in mobile phone ownership and Internet access was cited as the main reason for not reaching certain population groups during the pandemic.
• Only 17 per cent of countries surveyed felt that their coordination within the data ecosystem was satisfactory. The satisfaction level varied by income level: it averaged 25 per cent in high-income countries, but only 8 per cent in low- and lower-middle income countries.
• During the pandemic, 40 per cent of National Statistics Offices (NSOs) saw data collection costs rise, while government funding for 48 per cent of NSOs was cut back.

Global Progress on the SDGs

At the heart of data on progress towards the Global Goals at the HLPF is the SDG Report. The statistics contained within were regularly cited throughout the meeting and served as a basis for extended discussions. All figures are based on the official SDG Indicator database. While not an exhaustive list, the following findings are among the most significant:

COVID-19 and other Health Issues

• The COVID-19 pandemic has so far directly or indirectly cost the lives of close to 15 million people.
• Global health systems have been overwhelmed and many essential health services have been disrupted, posing major threats to progress in fighting other deadly diseases.

The COVID pandemic has threatened global health gains directly and indirectly with 15 million deaths, 92% of countries experiencing disrupted health service, and 3.7 million more children missing vaccines compared to 2019.

• COVID has disrupted essential health services, resulting in a drop in immunization coverage for the first time in a decade and a rise in deaths from tuberculosis and malaria, among many other impacts.
• Global life expectancy is down as is immunization coverage.
• Tuberculosis deaths rose for the first time since 2005.

Poverty, Hunger and Employment

• Up to 100 million more people are now living in extreme poverty and suffering from increased hunger compared to pre-pandemic levels.
• Working poverty rates rose for the first time in two decades.

The pandemic wiped out more than four years of progress on poverty eradication and pushed 93 million more people into extreme poverty in 2020.

• About 1 in 10 people worldwide are suffering from hunger with 1 in 3 people lacking regular access to adequate food.
• 47% of countries are experiencing soaring food prices.
• Global unemployment will remain above pre-pandemic level until at least 2023.
• 1 in 3 manufacturing jobs have been negatively impacted by #COVID-19. The Least Developed Countries have been hardest hit.
• 1 billion people still live in slum conditions.

Vulnerable Populations

• An estimated 147 million children missed more than half of their in-person instruction over the past two years, significantly affecting their learning and well-being.

Women have been disproportionately affected by the socioeconomic fallout of the pandemic, struggling with lost jobs, increased burdens of unpaid care work and an intensifying silent epidemic of domestic violence.

• Prolonged school closures put 24 million learners — from pre-primary to university levels — at risk of not returning to school.
• 1 in 10 children are engaged in child labour worldwide.
• Child marriages are on the rise.
• Anxiety and depression among adolescents and young people have increased significantly.
• Women struggle with the constraints of lost jobs and livelihoods, derailed schooling and increased burdens of unpaid care work at home.
• Existing evidence suggests that domestic violence has been exacerbated by the pandemic.
• More than 1 in 4 women over the age of 15 have been subjected to intimate partner violence.
• Anxiety and depression increased by 25% in 2020, especially among young people and women.
• Up to 110 million girls are likely to become child brides — an increase of 10 million from pre-pandemic predictions.

Environment

• Under current voluntary national commitments to climate action, greenhouse gas emissions will rise by nearly 14 per cent by 2030.
• Meeting drinking water, sanitation and hygiene targets for 2030 requires a 4X increase in the pace of progress.
• 733+ million people live in countries experiencing high or critical levels of water stress.
• Progress and investment in electrification and renewables financing has slowed. And while renewable energy usage has increased, only 17.7% of final consumption is from renewable sources.

Based on current national commitments, global emissions are set to increase by almost 14 per cent over the current decade.

• 99% of the world’s urban population breathe polluted air.
• Reliance on natural resources have increased 65% globally from 2000 to 2019.
• Food waste is a growing issue with 13.3% being lost before reaching market and 17% being wasted at the consumer level.
• CO2 emissions increased 6% in 2021.
• Plastics, ocean acidification, over fishing, ocean warming, and eutrophication are all threatening the world’s oceans — the planet’s largest ecosystem.
• 10 million hectares (nearly 40,000 square miles) of forest are destroyed every year with 90% of that caused by agricultural expansion.
• 40,000 species are at risk for extinction in the coming decades.

Conflicts, Refugees and Global Cooperation

• The world is enduring the highest number of conflicts since the creation of the United Nations.
• Approximately 2 billion people live in conflict-affected countries.
• Refugees were at the highest number on record in 2021 and forced displacement is continuing to grow, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
• As of the end of May 2022, some 6.5 million refugees had fled Ukraine alone, mostly women and children.

Refugees and forced displacement are at the highest absolute number on record.

• By current estimates, the war in Ukraine could cut global economic growth by 0.9 percentage points in 2022, as well as undermine development aid to the world’s poor.
• Around 40 per cent of people forcibly displaced worldwide are children, many of whom have suffered immeasurable damage and disruption to their lives and development due to conflict.
• The pandemic has caused the first rise in between-country inequality in a generation.
• 2021 was the deadliest year for migrants since 2017 with nearly 6,000 deaths.
• Sub-Saharan Africa countries are experiencing sharp rises in debt to Gross National Income (GNI) ratios, but global investment is rising.
• Investments in #data for the #SDGs declined by more than 18% in 2020.

Voluntary National Reviews

Each year countries are invited to submit updated reports on their own progress towards the SDGs. These Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) are a great way for countries to highlight the success and challenges unique to their situation. This year 44 countries presented including 11 presenting for the first time. This brings the total contributions to 247 since the process was started. Thus far, all but 5 countries have submitted a VNR: Haiti, Myanmar, South Sudan, Yemen, and The United States.

Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, provided a summary of this year’s VNRs:

• This year’s VNRs illustrate the setbacks of COVID-19, global conflict, and environmental issues such as climate change on goals related to education, gender equality and poverty among others.
• Increases have been seen in food insecurity, gender based violence, early marriage, droughts, and unemployment. But we’ve also seen a rise in innovations to “Build Back Better” and investments in agriculture, vaccines, education, and social protection.

The VNRs show the value of the SDGs in addressing global issues and the commitment of member countries to stepping up to the challenge.

• Advancements in data and reporting have been seen in the last year making the SDGs more relevant, accessible, and engaging.
• “We near the half way point of the 2030 Agenda, we have made progress, but it is fair to say, this is not the ‘half way there’ the world had imagined in 2015.” The setbacks and multiple crises experiences should be a wake up call.

A full collection of VNRs, both past and present, can be found on the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform and SDGCounting is currently analyzing the individual reports and will provide a summary in the coming weeks.

Conclusion

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with increased global conflict and rapidly worsening climate crisis, has caused significant disruptions to global development. While these challenges have solidified the rationale for such ambitious undertakings as the Sustainable Development Goals, it is only now, after more than two years of struggle, that the true impact is being seen. We will watch carefully in the coming months and year to see how this trajectory disruption is overcome.

SDGCounting is a program of StartingUpGood and tracks the progress of counting and measuring the success of the SDGs. Check us out on Twitter.