2025 marks just five years until 2030, the target for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For context, the SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals set by the UN General Assembly in 2015 after considerable consultation with NGOs, companies and other stakeholders. Part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SDGs address a broad range of social, economic and environmental challenges, underscoring the importance of bridging the gaps on the SDGs.

These goals are a blueprint for advancing a better and more sustainable future for all, and they are backed by 231 progress indicators, such as the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day. With five years left toward our collective resolution for the world, this is a critical moment to evaluate progress. How are we doing?

Progress and Pitfalls of Bridging the Gaps on the SDGs

A recent working paper from three Brookings researchers tracks 24 SDG-related indicators across 100 countries, finding real, notable improvements in many areas.

For example, the world is making progress on HIV incidence and antiretroviral coverage to treat AIDS. There’s also momentum around primary and secondary school completion rates, aided in part by gains in access to electricity and the internet. Access to family planning has increased while maternal mortality and under-five mortality both fell. There’s also been a surge in marine protected areas and, to a lesser degree, land-based conservation.

While these and other areas may be far from their targets, the good news is that progress is being made—yet there are six notable exceptions: food insecurity, undernourishment, malaria, traffic mortality, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and greenhouse gas emissions that impact climate change. The largest reversal relates to the goal of zero hunger, which is critical to people’s health, well-being and survival.

Priorities for Progress

The SDGs are interrelated and all are important, yet there’s a reason no poverty and zero hunger feature first and second among the Global Goals. Those two goals are directly related to many of the others.

Read the full article about closing the gaps on SDGs by Charles E. Owubah at Forbes.