Asia and the Pacific SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Progress Report 2023 unveiled that the Asia and Pacific (APAC) regions have just achieved 14.4 per cent progress, while they should have made 50 per cent progress to achieve the target of 2030.
In 2015, all the member states of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These agenda consists of 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) including reducing inequality and improving health & education.
The report has given an analytical review of the progress of the APAC region on those 17 SDGs. It further stated that as per the current trend, the region will take many more decades to achieve the SDGs.
The report also noted that if the region will keep heading at the current pace, it will miss 90 per cent of the SDG targets by 2030. Although the report also mentioned that the region grew at a very slow pace, in order to achieve the targets by 2030 the region will be needing to multiply the efforts.
The affordable and clean energy industry, innovation and infrastructure are the sectors where the region made the strongest progress.
Despite pessimistic data, the report has also highlighted some of the countries which have made faster progress, along with examples of increasing the rate of births attended by skilled personnel in Cambodia and reducing child marriages in India.
The data in the report shows that high-income nations have significant data gaps for gender equality, peace justice and life below water.
The report significantly stated that one in five SDGs is regressing and need improvisation. That alteration in the target might influence the pace of the progress, the region is moving.