"Almost 600M People Will Remain Mired in Extreme Poverty by 2030," UN Chief Warns

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that almost 600 million people will still be mired in extreme poverty by 2030 in case the UN sustainable development goals fail to have a meaningful impact.

In his address at the opening of the ministerial segment of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), held in New York, the UN Chief said the report entitled: " The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Progress Report Special Edition" shows that "progress on fully half of all SDG targets is weak and insufficient. That almost a third have stalled or gone into reverse."

He continued: "That emissions continue to rise. Gaping inequalities persist. Hunger is back to 2005 levels. Gender equality is 300 years away. And on our current course, almost 600 million people will still be mired in extreme poverty by 2030. The COVID-19 pandemic, a burgeoning climate crisis, widespread conflict, and the consequences of the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine have hobbled fragile and limited progress."

Guterres also noted that many countries are facing a financial abyss, adding that the annual SDG funding gap has risen from 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars before the pandemic to an estimated 4.2 trillion dollars.