Latin America and the Caribbean are on track to achieve just 23 per cent of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, according to a sobering assessment from the region's primary economic commission.

A new report from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reveals that while 41 per cent of targets are moving in the right direction, they are advancing too slowly to meet established thresholds. More concerning still, the remaining 36 per cent of targets have either stagnated or regressed compared with 2015 levels.

The findings were presented by ECLAC's Executive Secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, at a regional forum on April 1 in Santiago, Chile, where he attributed the disappointing progress to several key factors: weak institutional frameworks, insufficient prioritisation in national development plans, and constrained fiscal space due to mounting debt burdens.

"In 2025, ten years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and five years before the deadline for fulfilling the SDGs, progress on the attainment of the Goals in the region is not what we hoped for," Salazar-Xirinachs told attendees.

The report, entitled "Latin America and the Caribbean in the Final Five Years of the 2030 Agenda", highlights stark subregional disparities. South America and the Central America-Mexico region are forecast to achieve approximately 24 per cent of targets, while Caribbean nations lag behind at just 13 per cent.

The commission pointed to the challenging global economic landscape since 2014-15 as providing an unfavourable backdrop for faster progress. This situation was dramatically worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which ECLAC says "decelerated progress and deepened structural inequalities" across the region.

Despite post-pandemic recoveries in many areas, the report indicates that most indicators have merely returned to pre-crisis levels rather than advancing meaningfully toward 2030 targets.

The ECLAC chief warned that a troubling deterioration in governance metrics compounds these challenges. The region has seen downward trends in "governmental effectiveness, regulatory quality and control of corruption", according to the report.

To address these shortcomings, ECLAC is calling for strengthened institutional capabilities across technical, operational, political, and prospective dimensions. Salazar-Xirinachs stressed the importance of "spaces for social dialogue with the private sector and civil society" as essential components of effective governance.

“No social actor, on their own, can achieve fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Without cooperation and without partnerships, there is no 2030 Agenda,” he said. 

The findings were presented at the eighth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, which continues through April 4 in Santiago. The high-level gathering has brought together government officials, international organisations, private sector leaders and civil society representatives to discuss accelerating progress toward the 2030 Agenda.

Against a backdrop of global geopolitical tensions and protectionist trade pressures, the ECLAC Secretary positioned the forum as "a catalyst for hope" and a demonstration of multilateral cooperation's continuing value in addressing the region's complex challenges.