THE INDICATOR-LEVEL READ · 2015 BASELINE → LATEST · UN + SDSN, 2026

One layer down: every goal, broken into the numbers underneath it.

The headline scorecard hides as much as it shows. Below, each of the 17 Goals is opened up into its underlying targets and indicators — the actual series the UN and SDSN track — with the 2015 starting value against the most recent reading and the direction of travel. Two verdicts frame it: the UN judges roughly a third of measurable targets on pace, while SDSN's stricter test puts only 16.5% of targets on track — and finds none of the 17 Goals on course for 2030.

36%
of 139 UN-tracked targets on track or moderate
49%
advancing, but too slowly for 2030
15%
regressed below their 2015 baseline
16.5%
on track by SDSN's stricter target test

FURTHEST FORWARD

The five indicators closest to their 2030 targets

  1. 9 Mobile broadband subscriptions
  2. 3 Adolescent fertility rate
  3. 3 New HIV infections
  4. 9 Internet use
  5. 7 Access to electricity

FURTHEST BACK

Indicators moving the wrong way since 2015

  1. 2 Sustainable agriculture & nitrogen
  2. 3 Adult obesity prevalence
  3. 16 Press freedom
  4. 16 Corruption Perceptions Index
  5. 15 Red List Index (extinction risk)
A note on what "no data" means. A decade ago, only about half of the SDG indicators had any data at all; today a global database of 3.2M+ points covers nearly every one. But trend coverage is still thinnest exactly where progress is weakest — fewer than a third of indicators for gender (5), cities (11), climate (13) and peace (16) have two comparable points since 2015. The measurable picture on those goals likely flatters the real one. On rankings, SDSN places Finland, Sweden and Denmark at the top of the 193-country index; Barbados leads its multilateralism index and the United States ranks last.