Kenya records slow progress towards 2030 SDGs target
By Cynthia Atuo, July 18, 2025With only five years left ahead of the Vision 2030, Kenya is yet to fully achieve its global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Ranking 123 out of 167 countries globally, Kenya has recorded a slightly above average performance with key areas witnessing minimal and lack of progress.
“Only 35 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets are on track or showing moderate progress. Nearly half are advancing too slowly or making only marginal gains, while 18 per cent have regressed,” reads part of the 2025 SDG report by the UN.
Of key concern, according to the 2025 Sustainable Development Goals Report by the United Nations, only the country’s education sector is on track and has shown notable improvement over the years. When it comes to quality education (SDG 4), Kenya has recorded an improved literacy rate, particularly among 95.7 per cent of its youth aged 15 to 24.
The rest of the 16 SDGs are moderately improving with a majority witnessing stagnation and no improvement.
Poverty continues to be a big challenge in the country and it is expected to worsen as more Kenyans are still living in extreme poverty in 2025. The data shows that 22.5 per cent and 44.8 per cent of people in the country are living below the poverty line, surviving on Sh278 and Sh472 per day.
Reduced yields
While Zero Hunger has also shown some progress with improvements on child wasting, stunted growth, and human trophic levels, the prevalence of obesity and undernourishment still persists. 34 per cent of Kenyans, as of 2022 were still experiencing undernourishment, mostly attributed to poverty.
More notably, the country’s cereal yield (tonnes of cereal crops per hectare of harvested land) reduced drastically, potentially leading to a severe food crisis that could cause widespread poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and even social unrest.
Key findings from the report also show that the health sector, which has lately been a contentious area, was not without its own challenges.
While the adolescent fertility rates, births attended by skilled personnel, and surviving infants received WHO recommended vaccines, and new HIV infections improved, traffic deaths per 100,000 population worsened by 28.2 per cent.
Life expectancy, subjective well-being, and the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), are wanting as several challenges still remain.
The situation is also most critical under the SDG8, Decent Work and Economic Growth, where two key areas are regressing.
Unemployment continues to get worse day by day with the country’s unemployment rate decreasing to 5.3 per cent of the total labour force from 15 years and above.
At the same time, Kenya only scored 0.55 out of 1-10 scale, on the effective guarantee of fundamental labour rights, reflecting only little enforcement of key workers protection. In line with this, the fatal work-related accidents embodied in imports face a lot of challenges, thus calling for more protective actions.
And as the country continues to face increasing cases of homicide and femicide, in addition to injustices mostly owing to recent protests and police abductions amid political tensions, SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions is far from being fully achieved.
Press Freedom is at its worst with, standing below the average score (49 out of 100), as more media houses are bearing the brunt of democratic reporting.
Rising inequality
Only 0.57 (0-1 best) of expropriations are lawful and adequately compensated, while the number of unsentenced detainees stands at 41 per cent.
Corruption, access to and affordability of justice, timeliness of administrative proceedings, and crime control, and homicide cases are still a work in progress.
“While the SDGs have improved millions of lives globally, the pace of change remains insufficient to achieve the Goals by 2030. Escalating conflicts, climate change, rising inequality, and inadequate financing continue to hinder further progress,” further stated the UN in its findings.
According to UN Secretary General António Guterres, despite notable improvements globally particularly in health, education, energy, and digital connectivity, the pace at which countries are going with is still slow yet time is ticking. “We are facing a development emergency. But this report is more than a snapshot of today. It’s also a compass pointing the way to progress. This report shows that the Sustainable Development Goals are still within reach. But only if we act – with urgency, unity, and unwavering resolve,” noted Guterres.