Only 36% of the 139 SDG targets with trend data are on track or making moderate progress, according to the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 published by the United Nations on 7 July 2026. Another 15% have slipped below their 2015 baselines, with fewer than five years left before the 2030 deadline.
This summary pulls out the numbers that matter most for funders, NGO leaders and researchers working across MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, and explains how to use them.
About the report
| Publisher | United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) |
| Published | 7 July 2026 |
| Edition | 2026 edition of the UN’s annual official SDG progress report |
| Data covered | Mostly 2024 and 2025 data, with poverty estimates projected to 2026 |
| Latest edition? | Yes, as of October 2026. The UN releases a new edition each year, usually in July |
The report is the UN Secretary-General’s annual progress check on the 17 Goals. It draws on the official global indicator framework and the Global SDG Indicators Database, so its figures are the reference point most governments and multilaterals cite.
One methodological change matters for anyone comparing editions. Extreme poverty is now measured at the World Bank’s $3.00 a day line in 2021 prices. Earlier editions used the $2.15 line in 2017 prices, so poverty headcounts from older reports are not directly comparable with this one.
Key findings
- Of the 139 targets with enough trend data, 36% are on track or making moderate progress, 49% are moving too slowly, and 15% have fallen below their 2015 baselines, according to the SDG Report 2026 key messages.
- About 826 million people, or 10% of the world’s population, live in extreme poverty in 2026 on less than $3.00 a day, and Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 71% of them, the full SDG Report 2026 estimates.
- In 2025, 645 million people (7.8% of the global population) were chronically undernourished, slightly below the 8.0% recorded in 2015, according to the SDG Report 2026.
- Moderate or severe food insecurity affected 2.1 billion people in 2025, which is 86 million fewer than in 2024 but 527 million more than in 2015, the report finds.
- Violent conflict is at its highest level in decades, and the SDG Report 2026 counts 118 million people forcibly displaced.
- Women held 27.4% of seats in lower or single houses of national parliaments on 1 January 2026, up 5.1 percentage points since 2015, and only seven countries had reached 50% or more, according to the report.
- Official development assistance fell by a record 23% in 2025, and the UN puts the annual SDG financing gap at $4 trillion, according to the key messages.
The status split for the 139 assessable targets looks like this:
| Status of target | Share of 139 targets |
|---|---|
| On track or moderate progress | 36% |
| Progress too slow | 49% |
| Below the 2015 baseline | 15% |
What the SDG Report 2026 means for impact funders, NGOs and researchers
Progress continues, but it became uneven at the exact moment aid budgets shrank. That combination changes how capital and programs should be planned for the last stretch to 2030.
- Funders and impact investors: with 71% of the extreme poor in Sub-Saharan Africa and a record 23% drop in aid, grant money alone will not cover basic services there. Blended structures and first-loss capital deserve a bigger share of portfolios aimed at SDG 1 and SDG 2.
- NGO and social enterprise leaders: report against specific SDG targets and indicators, not goal icons. A program that cites target 2.1 and the matching indicator can be checked against the UN’s own baseline. A logo on a slide cannot.
- Researchers and analysts: treat the poverty figures as a new series. The switch to the $3.00 line raises measured poverty, so a rise between editions can reflect the method rather than the world.
- MENA practitioners: the report notes that undernourishment kept rising in Western Asia. Food security programs in the region have a fresh, citable baseline to build proposals on.
If you are building an indicator set around these targets, our explainers on the 17 SDGs and on IRIS+ indicators show how to map program metrics to recognized standards.
Download the full report
The full report, the key messages and the regional data are free to download from the UN Statistics Division. The report is authored and published by the United Nations, not by Impact DOTS.
FAQ
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs publishes it each year as the official UN progress report on the 17 Goals. The 2026 edition was released on 7 July 2026.
Of the 139 targets with enough trend data, 36% are on track or making moderate progress, 49% are moving too slowly and 15% are below their 2015 baselines.
Yes. As of October 2026 it is the most recent edition. The UN publishes a new one every year, usually in July.
The 2026 report uses the $3.00 a day international poverty line in 2021 prices. Older editions used $2.15 in 2017 prices, so the two series are not directly comparable.
The UN report tracks global and regional progress on the official indicators. The Sustainable Development Report, published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, ranks individual countries with its SDG Index.
Sources
- UN DESA: The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026
- UN DESA: The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026, full report (PDF)
- UN DESA: SDG Report 2026 key messages (PDF)
