This is the health system’s annual scorecard against the SDGs, and the message is a stall. Of the health-related SDG indicators WHO reviews, only one, reducing per-capita alcohol consumption, is on track to meet its 2030 target. Mortality rates are still falling across most causes, but not fast enough, and COVID-19 rolled healthy life expectancy back nearly a decade in just two years.
The headline
Between 2000 and 2019, healthy life expectancy rose by more than five years, maternal mortality fell by a third and child mortality more than halved. Then COVID-19 wiped about 1.8 years off healthy life expectancy in 2020 and 2021. The recovery has not restored momentum. WHO’s own Triple Billion scorecard tells the same story: the target of one billion more people living healthier lives was exceeded, but on universal health coverage only about 431 million more people gained protected access by 2024, well short of a billion. The report’s verdict is that overall progress is insufficient to meet the health-related SDGs by 2030.
The numbers
- Healthy life expectancy. Rose 5.4 years, from 58.1 years in 2000 to 63.5 in 2019, then COVID-19 erased roughly 1.8 years by 2021.
- One target on track. Of the health-related SDG indicators reviewed, only reducing total per-capita alcohol consumption is on track globally for 2030.
- Maternal mortality. About 260 000 women died in 2023, a ratio of 197 per 100 000 live births, down 40% since 2000 but only 10% across the SDG era since 2016.
- Child mortality. The under-five rate more than halved (52%) to 37 per 1000 live births, yet 4.8 million children under five still died in 2023, and 60 countries will miss the target.
- Premature NCDs. The risk of dying between ages 30 and 70 from a major NCD fell from 22.5% in 2000 to 18.0% in 2019, but progress since 2015 is about one fifth of the pace needed to hit the one-third-reduction target.
- Financial hardship. In 2019, some 344 million people were pushed or further pushed into extreme poverty by out-of-pocket health spending, and 13.5% of the world spent more than 10% of the household budget on health.
- Health workers. The global shortage eased from 15.4 million in 2020 to 14.7 million in 2023, with a projected 11.1 million gap still open in 2030.
The counting angle
The report is, in WHO’s own words, the world’s annual health report card, and it opens by arguing that measurement is the precondition for progress. That framing exposes the gaps. Many headline figures carry wide uncertainty intervals, NCD mortality during 2020 and 2021 may have been misclassified where surveillance broke down, and the financial-hardship indicator (SDG 3.8.2) is being redefined mid-decade to catch the poor households a 10% threshold missed. Chapter 4 makes the disaggregation point directly: within-country inequalities in childhood immunization, tied to a mother’s wealth and education, stay hidden until the data are broken down.
Watch & read
- World Health Statistics 2025, the full report and country data (WHO).
- The SDG Report 2026, the wider global stocktake that carries these health figures into the full SDG picture.
Figures are as reported by WHO, drawn from the foreword, key messages and Chapter 2; parenthetical ranges in the source are the report’s own uncertainty intervals. Estimates reflect data available as of April 2025.