Europe Sustainable Development Report 2025
The European Sustainable Development Report (ESDR) 2025 provides an up-to-date review on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda in Europe. This year's edition covers 41 European countries: 27 EU Member States, 9 candidate countries, 4 European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and the United Kingdom.
According to the report, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in the European Union has slowed down significantly. The rate of progress during the period 2020-2023 was more than twice as slow as in the period 2016-2019.
At global level, 19 of the 20 countries with the highest Global SDG Index are European. However, large disparities are identified among these countries and many dimensions of sustainable development have not shown significant progress since 2015, and even more so since 2020.
Greece, based on the overall SDG Index, ranks 28th out of 34 European countries with a score of 66.5, suggesting that there is significant room for improvement in achieving the SDGs. It should be noted that the average score of the European Union countries is 72.8, while the corresponding average for Southern European countries is 71.2. Finland ranks first for the fifth consecutive year with a score of 81.1 followed by Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Norway. However, even these countries face significant difficulties in achieving at least two of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Finally, the report highlights the following five major challenges that European countries face in achieving the SDGs:
Stagnation and reversal of progress on indicators that measure inequalities within countries in terms of opportunities provided, well-being and equity in access to and quality of services.
Long-term problems related to the environment and biodiversity.
Negative impacts as a result of unsustainable consumption patterns and supply chains.
Large gaps and slow rate of convergence between European countries in relation to the outcomes of the SDGs, including SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
Slow progress and even reversal in progress on some indicators under SDG16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and SDG17 (Partnerships for the Goals).