Every year, MoSPI releases a Progress Report on SDGs containing time series data, along with two additional publications derived from this report. While there has been significant progress on some goals, challenges remain in other SDGs. As per the UN SDG Goals report 2024, India is ranked 109 out of 167 countries based on SDG performance.
SDGs, or Sustainable Development Goals, are a set of 17 global objectives adopted by the United Nations in 2015. They aim to address global challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice by 2030, promoting sustainable development for all nations and people worldwide.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation of the Government of India has a National Indicator Framework (NIF) for the SDGs to align with national priorities. This framework, developed in consultation with various stakeholders including UN agencies, facilitates the monitoring of SDG progress at the national level. As of 29 June 2024, there are 290 national SDG indicators in the NIF, across the 17 SDG Goals.
Since 2007, the Government of India has been celebrating 29 June annually as ‘Statistics Day’ to commemorate the birth anniversary of the late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, honouring his significant contributions to Economic Planning and Statistics. Every year, on the same day, MoSPI releases a Progress Report on SDGs containing time series data and two additional publications derived from this report. The reports for 2024 were released on the same day, this year. It provides time series data on national SDG indicators. The major data sources for these SDG national indicators are administrative data, surveys and censuses. Secondary data from concerned Ministries has been used to compile the indicators.
Significant progress in terms of reducing poverty, vaccinating children, and enrolment in schools
Some key progress areas highlighted in the report are given below.
- The proportion of men, women, and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions has reduced from 24.85% in 2015-16 to 14.96% in 2019-21.
- The number of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) provided bank credit linkage increased from 18.32 lakh in 2015-16 to 44.15 lakh in 2023-24.
- Gross Value Added in agriculture per worker (in ₹) increased from ₹61,427 in 2015-16 to ₹87,609 in 2023-24.
- The percentage of children aged 12-23 months fully vaccinated with BCG, measles, and three doses each of polio and DPT or Penta vaccine (excluding polio vaccine given at birth) increased from 62% to 76.6% between 2015-16 and 2019-21.
- The Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher secondary education increased from 48.32 in 2015-16 to 57.60 in 2021-22.
- The percentage of the population using an improved drinking water source in rural areas increased from 94.57% in 2015-16 to 99.29% in 2023-24.
- The installed renewable energy generating capacity in the country steadily increased from 63.25 watts per capita in 2014-15 to 136.56 watts per capita in 2023-24.
- The number of patents issued (granted) increased from 6,326 in 2015-16 to 1,03,057 in 2023-24.
- The number of researchers per million population (in full-time equivalent) increased from 218 to 262 between 2015-16 and 2020-21.
- The percentage of the budget allocated for the welfare of SCs and STs increased from 2.86% in 2015-16 to 6.19% in 2023-24.
- The percentage of wards with 100% door-to-door waste collection increased from 43% in 2016 to 97% in 2024.
- The Maternal Mortality Ratio declined from 130 per 1,00,000 live births in 2014-16 to 97 per 1,00,000 live births in 2018-20.
- The Under-five mortality rate declined from 43 per 1000 live births in 2015 to 32 per 1000 live births in 2020.
- The number of waste recycling plants installed increased from 829 in 2020 to 2447 in 2024.
Anaemia, suicide rates, and crimes against women and children have increased in India
While substantial progress has been achieved in certain indicators, there remains considerable disparity in others. A few instances of these are outlined below.
- The prevalence of malnutrition among children under 5 years of age (who are overweight) increased from 2.1% to 3.4% between 2015-16 and 2020-21.
- During the same period, the prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years rose from 50.4% to 52.2% among pregnant women and from 53.1% to 57% among non-pregnant women.
- Mortality rates attributed to non-communicable diseases such as Cardiovascular disease, Malignant & other Neoplasms, Diabetes Mellitus, or Chronic Respiratory disease increased in the 25-34, 35-44, and 45-54 age groups.
- The suicide mortality rate per lakh population has steadily increased from 9.9 in 2015 to 12.4 in 2022.
- The rate of crimes against women per one lakh female population substantially increased from 54.23 in 2015 to 66.38 in 2022.
- The proportion of crimes committed against children per one lakh children also increased from 22.06 to 38.33 during the same period.
- Per capita availability of water decreased from 1,545 cubic metres per person to 1,449 cubic metres per person between 2011 and 2024.
- The per capita consumption of fossil fuels increased from 1,236.9 kg in 2015-16 to 1,664 kgs in 2023-24 despite calls to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
- The expenditure on research and development as a proportion of GDP marginally dropped from 3.82% in 2016-17 to 3.07% in 2022-23.
- The percentage of RTI queries responded to fell from 81.77% to 61.77% between 2015-16 and 2021-22 against Target 16.6, which calls for developing effective, accountable, and transparent institutions at all levels.
India is ranked 109 out of 167 countries on SDG performance
According to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024, India is ranked 109 out of 167 countries based on SDG performance. Countries are given a score from 0 to 100 based on their performance. Finland has the highest score with 86.4 while India has a score of 64 as against the regional average of 66.5 for East and South Asia. Countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Mexico have a higher score than India.
Indi’s progress is slower or stagnated for majority of the SDGs
The report also shows that India is on track/maintaining its progress with respect to only 2 SDGs: SDG 1: No Poverty and SDG 4: Quality Education. Of the remaining 15 goals, India’s progress has moderately improved for 8 goals and has stagnated for 5 goals. Meanwhile, there has been a decline in progress for SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG 13: Climate Action.
The World is largely off track to realize the 2030 Agenda
On average, only 16% of the SDGs are likely to be achieved globally by 2030. The other 84% are either making slow progress or are moving backwards. Progress towards these goals has been slow since 2020, especially for SDGs related to ending hunger, building sustainable cities, protecting life below water and on land, and promoting justice and strong institutions. In short, the world is severely off track to realize the 2030 Agenda.
Five specific targets have particularly fallen behind since 2015: reducing obesity (SDG 2), ensuring press freedom (SDG 16), improving the Red List Index for species conservation (SDG 15), managing nitrogen sustainably (SDG 2), and maintaining life expectancy (SDG 3), which has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors.
While there’s slightly more positive movement in achieving basic infrastructure and services goals (like those in SDG 9), overall progress remains slow and uneven across different countries.
Another UN report, the 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report, states that the money needed to meet the SDGs and address climate change amounts to trillions of dollars. This funding gap is especially critical in many developing countries. Meanwhile, global challenges like geopolitical tensions, climate disasters, and high living costs have harmed billions of people, slowing progress in healthcare, education, and other development areas. The report estimated that $4.2 trillion is required to bridge this financing gap. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, this figure was $2.5 trillion.
