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Executive Summary

Since 2016, the global edition of the Sustainable Development Report (SDR) has provided the most up-to-date data to track and rank the performance of all UN member states on the SDGs. This year’s edition was written by a group of independent experts at the SDG Transformation Center, an initiative of the SDSN. It focuses on the UN Summit of the Future, with an opening chapter endorsed by 100+ global scientists and practitioners. The report also includes two thematic chapters, related to SDG 17 (Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development) and SDG 2 (End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture).

Part 1: Recommendation of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the Summit of the Future

The Summit of the Future is a unique and vital opportunity for the world community to update and upgrade the United Nations (UN) to meet the great challenges of the 21st century. We are midway between the founding of the UN in 1945 and the year 2100. This is a key moment to take stock of the accomplishments and limitations of the UN to date, and to update and upgrade the UN institutions for the balance of the century. The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is pleased to present its recommendations for United Nations 2.0 as a contribution to the upcoming summit. This statement is the work of many individuals listed at the end of this statement.

Part 2: The SDG Index and Dashboards

The SDG Index and Dashboards provides an annual assessment of SDG progress in all 193 UN member states. It builds on a peer-reviewed, statistically audited, and transparent methodology (Schmidt-Traub et al. 2017; Lafortune et al. 2018; Papadimitriou, Neves, and Becker 2019). The methods summary provides additional information about the underlying data sources and the main changes from previous editions. This year’s SDG Index incorporates 125 indicators, including 98 global indicators and 27 additional indicators used for the OECD countries’ dashboards. While all UN member states have a country profile, only those with less than 20 percent of missing data have an SDG Index score and rank. This is to ensure the comparability of the results and minimize missing data bias. This year, 167 countries are ranked in the SDG Index, including for the first time Guinea-Bissau. We also include average results and country profiles for the BRICS (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa) and the BRICS+ countries for the first time, incorporating countries that were invited to become part of the BRICs in 2023 (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates).

Part 3: Government Support to UN-Based Multilateralism

In 2015, all UN member states committed to SDG 17, to revitalize global partnership for sustainable development. The UN Summit of the Future in September 2024 is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to “mend eroded trust and demonstrate that international cooperation can effectively tackle current challenges as well as those that have emerged in recent years or may yet be over the horizon” (UN 2024). In 2025, the World Social Summit “will provide an opportunity for the international community to strengthen the United Nations’ framework for effective social development” (Club de Madrid 2022). During this year’s High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, SDG16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) will be specifically under review by the international community.

Part 4: Transforming Food and Land systems to achieve the SDGs

SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) is one of the five SDGs that the international community will review in depth at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July 2024. SDG 2 faces numerous challenges and shows concerning trends in global progress: 600 million people still suffer from hunger, and the prevalence of undernourishment increased to 10% of the global population in 2021 after years of decline. Many countries now face the dual challenge of undernourishment and overweight. The global prevalence of obesity has increased from 9% in 2005 to 16% in 2022, indicating an alarming upward trend. According to the SDG Index, none of the 193 UN member states has achieved SDG 2.

Methodology

The Sustainable Development Report 2024 provides an assessment of progress towards the SDGs for all UN member states. The SDG Index score is presented on a scale of 0 to 100 and can be interpreted as a percentage towards optimal performance on the SDGs. Therefore, the difference between 100 and a country’s SDG Index score is the distance, in percentage points, that must be overcome to reach optimum SDG performance. To minimize missing data bias, we do not calculate an overall SDG Index score and rank for countries missing data on more than 20 percent of the indicators. The same basket of indicators and similar performance thresholds are used for all countries to generate comparable scores and rankings.