Today, one in 10 people across the world still lives in extreme poverty, 2.3 billion people go to bed hungry every night and more than two billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Thursday.

Speaking at the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council on the “Way forward to 2030,” Ms Mohammed said the 2026 UN Secretary-General’s report on progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals indicates that more than a third of SDG targets are on track or making moderate progress, but progress remains deeply uneven across the goals and among countries.

She said that among the more than one-third of the SDG targets on track or making moderate progress, access to electricity has reached 92 per cent of the world’s population and Internet connectivity has increased from 40 per cent in 2015 to 74 per cent today.

The SDGs matter, and they are making a difference, said Mohammed. “But our world today is very different from 2015.”

While multiple, intersecting crises – from geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty to the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, debt distress and widening inequalities – continue to slow progress across the SDGs and test the ability to deliver, the planet is warming at an alarming pace and violent conflict has reached its highest level in decades, she said.

“These are not isolated challenges,” warned the deputy secretary-general.

“The question before us is not whether the SDGs remain relevant … The question is whether we are prepared to make the choices, mobilise the financing and strengthen the cooperation required to deliver them,” she said, calling for stronger multilateral cooperation, increased investment and integrated solutions that can advance multiple SDGs simultaneously while strengthening resilience to future shocks.

Describing the upcoming 2027 SDG Summit as a milestone, Mohammed said the summit must be more than “a stocktaking exercise,” and it must be a delivery moment: to sharpen priorities, scale what works and renew political commitment in the final stretch to deliver on the SDGs by 2030.

• A Tell Media / Xinhua report