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HLPF 2025: 5 Years to 2030

High Level Political Forum: The World's SDG Check-Up. 5 Years to 2030!

What is HLPF?

HLPF is the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, an annual UN meeting which brings together Member States along with civil society, government and other stakeholders to: • Track progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a full review of five. • Share what’s working and what’s not. • Push for stronger action where progress is too slow. • Amplify diverse voices, including those of governments, civil society, Indigenous peoples, and youth. HLPF was created to ensure that the SDGs don’t just sit on paper, but are actually acted on.

 

2025 Checkpoint

This HLPF marks a critical moment to take stock of how far we still have to go, and what must happen next to get there.

With only five years until the 2030 deadline, the world is falling short on delivering the 169 targets of the 17 SDGs.

“with limited data on SDG 5, and wide gaps in gender data generally, much is unknown about gender inequalities. Lived realities are too often invisible in the data informing priorities, policies, decision-making and resourcing.” Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM) Collective Statement 2025

SDGs in Review

The 2025 HLPF will conduct full reviews of:

- SDG 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; - SDG 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; - SDG 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all; - SDG 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development; - SDG 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

 

But there is a need for robust data

There isn’t enough data to accurately measure progress on the SDGs.

And where data does exist, it’s often incomplete, inaccurate, or fails to reflect the experiences of entire groups of people.

Equality Insights & The SDGs

There isn’t enough data to accurately measure progress on the SDGs.

And where data does exist, it’s often incomplete, inaccurate, or fails to reflect the experiences of entire groups of people.

Equality Insights addresses critical gaps in SDG data by generating individual-level, intersectional, and multidimensional data that makes visible what standard data often misses. • Multidimensional and rights-based data: We measure areas of life identified by people with lived experience of poverty as essential to wellbeing, and as needing to change in order to be “not poor.” • Gender-sensitive data: We use gender-sensitive tools to capture individual experiences and help monitor gendered impacts of inequality, such as unpaid care, safety, and voice. • Individual and intersectional: We collect data at the individual level, capturing differences within households and providing a more accurate picture of how overlapping factors shape deprivation. • Scalar approach: We assess degrees of deprivation, rather than binary thresholds such as ‘poor’ or ‘not poor’, contributing to more nuanced SDG reporting and better understanding of progress over time.

 

And lack of data is not the only challenge.

Many SDG indicators themselves are too narrow, binary, or blind to the realities of inequality, missing the nuanced, intersectional experiences of those most at risk of being left behind.

That’s why the iCount Coalition is working to ensure the next global agenda includes better data and better indicators.

As HLPF approaches, we’ll keep you updated on how Equality Insights and the iCount Coalition are engaging to push for greater inclusion and ambition in what comes after 2030.

 

Stay tuned for more.

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