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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) of the United Nations – Part 1: Understanding the Goals and their targets


This article/ blog is part of a series of multiple articles/ blog. The primary reference for these is the official website: The Sustainable Development Goals of The United Nations – https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) are goals envisioned and adopted by United Nations Member States in 2015 through “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. They are a call for urgent action to the member countries – developed and developing – to strive for sustainable development for everyone and tackle climate change. The SDG’s have been formulated through decades of work by various countries and the UN, including the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Presently, the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) provides support and capacity-building for the SDGs and their related thematic issues, including Water, energy, climate, oceans, urbanization, transport, science and technology, the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), partnerships and Small Island Developing States. DSDG plays a key role in the evaluation of UN systemwide implementation of the 2030 Agenda and on advocacy and outreach activities relating to the SDGs.

There are 17 Goals envisioned in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). These are:

  1. No Poverty
  2. Zero Hunger
  3. Good Health and Well-Being
  4. Quality Education
  5. Gender Equality
  6. Clean Water Sanitation
  7. Affordable and Clean Energy
  8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
  9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
  10. Reduced Inequalities
  11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
  12. Responsible Consumption and Production
  13. Climate Action
  14. Life Below Water
  15. Life on Land
  16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  17. Partnerships for the Goals

The 17 SDG’s and their targets are explained below:

– End poverty in all its forms everywhere

This Goal comprises of 7 targets 1.1 to 1.5 and 1.a to 1.b.

These targets 1.1 to 1.5 aim to eradicate extreme poverty, reduce poverty among all classes and gender, implement nationally appropriate social protection system to achieve substantial coverage of the poor and vulnerable, ensure equity of access to resources, and build resilience among poor to reduce their vulnerability to climate-related extreme events, all by 2030. Targets 1.a and 1.b aim to mobilize resource and create sound policy frameworks to end poverty.

– End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

This goal comprises of 8 targets 2.1 to 2.5 and 2.a to 2.c.

These targets 2.1 to 2.5 aim to end hunger and ensure access to safe nutrition, end malnutrition, stunting and wasting, double agricultural provcductivity and food producers’ incomes, ensure sustainable food production and resilient agricultural practices that strengthen adaptability to climate change, and maintain diverse plant and domestication animal species, all by 2030. Target 2.a to 2.c aim to increase investments to enhance agricultural productive capacity, correct and prevent trade distortions in world agricultural markets, and adopt measures to ensure proper functioning of food commodity markets and facilitate timely access to market information.

– Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages

This Goal comprises of 13 targets 3.1 to 3.9 and 3.a to 3.d.

These targets 3.1 to 3.9 aim to reduce global maternal mortality rate, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, end epidemics of AIDS, TB, malaria, reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases, strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, halve global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, achieve universal health coverage, and reduce  number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous pollution sources, all by 2030. Targets 3.a to 3d aim to strengthen implementation of WHO framework on Tobacco control, support R&D of vaccines and medicines, increase health financing and number of health workforce in developing countries, and improve capacity for global health risks.

– Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

This Goal comprises of 10 targets 4.1 to 4.7 and 4.a to 4.c.

These targets 4.1 to 4.7 aim to ensure all girls and boys complete primary and secondary education, have access to early childhood development care; ensure all women and men have access to quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, increase number of people who have relevant skills, eliminate gender disparities in education, ensure higher literacy rates for both me and women, and ensure acquisition of knowledge for sustainable development, all by 2030. Targets 4.a to 4.c emphasize on upgradation of education facilities, substantially expanding globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, and substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers.

– Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

This Goal comprises of 9 targets 5.1 to 5.6 and 5.a to 5.c.

These targets 5.1 to 5.6 aim to end and eliminate all forms of discriminations, violence, and harmful practices against girls and women, recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work within the household, ensure women’s effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels, and ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive rights. Targets 5.a to 5.c emphasize on undertaking reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources and access to ownership, enhancing use of technology to promote empowerment of women, and adopting and strengthening policies to promote gender equality.

– Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

This Goal comprises of 8 targets 6.1 to 6.6 and 6.a to 6.b.

These targets 6.1 to 6.6 aim to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, improve water quality, increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable supply of freshwater, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, and protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems, all by 2030. Targets 6.a and 6.b emphasize on expanding international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water-and-sanitation-related programmes and strengthening the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management.

– Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable ad modern energy for all

This Goal comprises of 5 targets 7.1 to 7.3 and 7.a to 7.b.

These targets 7.1 to 7.3 aim to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy, to increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency, all by 2030. Targets 7.a and 7.b emphasize the enhancement of international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology and promotion of investment in energy infrastructure, and expansion of infrastructure and upgradation of technology for supplying sustainable energy services for all in developing states.

– Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

This Goal comprises of 12 targets 8.1 to 8.10 and 8.a to 8.b.

These targets 8.1 to 8.10 aim to sustain per capita growth of at least 7% of GDP in the least developed countries, achieve higher levels of economic productivity, promote development oriented policies, improve global resource efficiency in consumption and production, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking, protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, devise and implement policies  to promote sustainable tourism, and strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institution to expand access to banking, all by 2030. Targets 8.a and 8.b emphasize increasing aid for trade support for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, and developing and operationalizing a global strategy for youth employment.

We shall investigate the remaining 9 Goals and their targets in Part 2 of this article series.

To be continued…..