Key findings
EU progress towards the SDGs
Over the 5-year period assessed, the EU has made significant progress towards reducing inequalities (SDG 10), ensuring decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) and reducing poverty (SDG 1).
Good progress has also been achieved in relation to the goals on sustainable agriculture (SDG 2), innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12), life below water (SDG 14), quality education (SDG 4) and gender equality (SDG 5).
The EU has also seen progress towards the goals on peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), global partnerships (SDG 17) and climate action (SDG 13).
The figure below shows a statistical summary of EU progress towards the 17 SDGs over this period.
Progress towards the goal on clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) was limited, with several indicators showing positive developments but others showing no progress or even movement away. For affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), a slight movement away from the goal was observed due to the negative impact on energy affordability of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the consequent energy crisis in the EU. Progress towards the goal on health and well-being (SDG 3) was disrupted by the setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic that are now fully visible in the available data.
The goal on life on land (SDG 15) is characterised by several unsustainable trends in the areas of biodiversity and land degradation, leading to a moderately unfavourable assessment of the EU’s progress in this area over the short-term period assessed. The European Commission has proposed important policy initiatives to reverse the degradation of ecosystems as part of the European green deal, such as the EU biodiversity strategy, the EU forest strategy and the EU soil strategy for 2030.
To get a quick overview of the progress of each SDG and its sub-indicators, please click on the images in the wheel below.
EU country progress towards the SDGs
Eurostat compiles a statistical overview of the status, meaning the situation based on the most recent data as well as the progress of the EU members towards the 17 SDGs, based on the EU SDG indicator set.
The visualisation tool SDG country overview shows a graphical interactive presentation. The graphs are also shown in the European semester country reports.
Each of the data tables below contains the data for the country as well as for the EU, which were used for the interactive tool and the graphs. The short-term trend at EU-level is assessed over a 5-year period. As a result, both the value at the beginning of the period and the latest available value is presented.
Data tables for country charts
Data for the countries are provided in form of Excel files.
Note for users: for information on the re-use of the SDG logo and icons, please see the UN guidelines.
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