The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024: A Sobering Reality Check
The United Nations' latest report, "The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024", paints a stark picture of the world's progress towards achieving the ambitious targets set out in the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. Despite some successes, the report reveals that the world is seriously off track in realizing the SDGs.
Electricity Access: A Decade-Long Stagnation
In 2022, the global electricity access rate remained stable at 91%, but 685 million people still lacked access to electricity, a 10 million increase from 2021 due to population growth. This marks the first increase in a decade, largely attributed to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine conflict, which affected energy prices and markets.
Those without access to electricity are primarily from low-income households or live in remote areas.
Regional Progress: A Mixed Bag
Progress varies across regions. For instance, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 83% of the global electricity access deficit (570 million people) in 2022, up from 50% in 2010.
Water and Sanitation: Insufficient Progress
The report highlights that progress on water and sanitation remains insufficient, despite some improvements. At the current pace, 2 billion people will still lack access to safely managed drinking water, 3 billion will lack safely managed sanitation, and 1.4 billion will lack basic hygiene services.
Unemployment: A Record Low, but Regional Disparities Persist
The global unemployment rate has fallen to a record low of 5.0% since 2000. It is expected to decrease further to 4.9% in 2024 and remain stable at that level in 2025.
The regions of North Africa and Western Asia recorded the highest unemployment rate at 9.5%, despite decreases since the pandemic, and also have the largest gender disparity in unemployment worldwide.
The report serves as a sobering reality check, highlighting the need for accelerated efforts to address the pressing development challenges and achieve the SDGs.
