Key findings
EU progress towards the SDGs
Significant progress was made towards the objectives and targets related to reduced inequalities (SDG 10), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) and quality education (SDG 4). The EU has also made progress towards most of the other SDGs, but at a slower pace. Among the group of goals with moderate progress, the EU performed best for gender equality (SDG 5), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9) and zero hunger (SDG 2). By contrast, the assessment shows no significant progress for life below water (SDG 14), due to the slow expansion of marine protected areas as well as the worsening health of the ocean.
A movement away from the sustainable development objectives was observed for clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) and life on land (SDG 15). Progress towards SDG 6 has been unfavourably affected by water stress, whereas development in SDG 15 is negatively impacted by land degradation and loss of biodiversity.
The figure below shows a statistical summary of EU progress towards the 17 SDGs over the most recent 5-year period of available data.
To get a quick overview of the progress of each SDG, please see the SDG EU progress tracker.
Country progress towards the SDGs
The visualisation tool SDG country overview shows the status and progress of the EU members towards the 17 SDGs, based on the EU SDG indicator set.
Each of the data tables below contains data for the respective country and for the EU which were used for the interactive tool. The short-term trend at EU-level is assessed over the most 5-year period of available data. Therefore, both the value at the beginning of the period and the latest available value are presented. The graphs are also shown in the European semester country reports
Data tables for country charts
Data for the countries are provided in the form of Excel files.
