IN THE United Nations General Assembly of 2000, heads of member states signed the historic Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), committing to a set of measurable targets ranging from reducing extreme poverty and hunger to promoting gender equality and lowering maternal and child mortality by 2015. As a UN member state, Bangladesh made notable progress across several fronts, including reducing poverty rates, attaining gender parity in education, improving immunisation coverage, and curbing the incidence of communicable diseases. Significant strides were also made in maternal and child health, particularly in lowering the maternal and under-five mortality rates.
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MDGs to SDGs
TO SUSTAIN the positive momentum of the MDGs, the UN General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, setting out an ambitious agenda for the next fifteen years with the central promise of 鈥楲eave no one behind.鈥� The SDGs are markedly different from the MDGs鈥� comprehensiveness, inclusiveness and heightened ambition. Despite the greater complexity, Bangladesh, in partnership with the UN and other development actors, has worked diligently to align its national frameworks with the SDG targets. Key initiatives have included appointing a principal coordinator for SDG affairs, integrating the goals into national policies and the Five-Year Plans, introducing an SDG Action Plan, launching the SDG Tracker webpage, formulating an SDG financing strategy, localising priority targets and establishing two national committees for data coordination and subnational implementation.
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Present state
AS THE timeline for Agenda 2030 approaches its final stretch, a critical review of Bangladesh鈥檚 standing is timely and essential. According to the UN Sustainable Development Report 2024, Bangladesh ranks 107th globally with an SDG index score of 64.35. Comparatively, Vietnam (54th), the Maldives (67th), Sri Lanka (93rd) and Nepal (95th) are ahead in the East and South Asian region. A closer look at specific goals reveals a more complex picture.
Goal 1 of the SDGs aims to eradicate extreme poverty everywhere by 2030. Evidence from the World Bank in 2022 shows that 5 per cent of Bangladesh鈥檚 population 鈥� around 8.5 million people 鈥� lived below the international poverty line of $2.15 a day. Meanwhile, the national poverty rate stood at 18.7 per cent. More alarmingly, the World Bank鈥檚 latest 鈥楤angladesh Development Update鈥� forecasts that real GDP growth will slow from 4.2 per cent in FY24 to 3.3 per cent in FY25, pushing an additional three million people into extreme poverty. The extreme poverty rate is expected to rise from 7.7 per cent to 9.3 per cent, and the national poverty rate from 20.5 per cent to 22.9 per cent in 2025. High inflation, political instability and trade disruptions are cited as the principal factors behind this deteriorating situation, with vulnerable groups 鈥� particularly women, young children and adolescents 鈥� most at risk. These trends directly threaten Bangladesh鈥檚 progress towards Agenda 2030.
Turning to Goal 3, which targets reducing maternal mortality to less than 70 per 100,000 live births and ending preventable deaths of newborns and under-five children, the scenario remains concerning. The health and well-being infrastructure in Bangladesh is fragile. Government health services continue to struggle to meet the demand for quality care, particularly for vulnerable populations. Furthermore, Bangladesh鈥檚 out-of-pocket health expenditure remains the highest in South Asia, making even basic healthcare unaffordable for large sections of the population.
Nutrition, a critical but often overlooked component of health and well-being, also paints a grim picture. Prevalence rates of stunting and wasting among children under five, along with widespread nutritional-deficiency anaemia among adolescents and pregnant women, suggest that without urgent intervention, Bangladesh will fall short of its SDG nutrition targets.
There have been commendable achievements, particularly in gender parity in school enrolment and increased participation of women in the workforce. However, persistent challenges in reducing child marriage rates, ensuring affordable quality education and addressing gender-based violence continue to undermine overall progress on gender equality. Across most of the remaining SDGs, Bangladesh鈥檚 performance remains significantly below target, offering few examples of real encouragement.
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Way forward
GIVEN the critical challenges outlined, Bangladesh finds itself at a crossroads. Without swift and strategic corrective measures, the situation will likely worsen, compounded by the looming effects of LDC graduation, climate change, and geopolitical uncertainties.
Firstly, the government must convene high-level technical meetings with experts across sectors to identify the current barriers to achieving Agenda 2030 and develop a comprehensive strategy for policy readjustment.
Secondly, building on the momentum generated by the recent Investment Summit, the government should organise similar events domestically and internationally to attract greater investment flows and to refine policies that encourage a more investment-friendly environment.
Thirdly, an urgent rethinking of the national education policy is required. A new market-oriented education framework should aim to produce a skilled, entrepreneurial youth population capable of driving employment generation and economic diversification.
Fourthly, there must be a substantial increase in public allocations to social service sectors, including health, education and social safety net programmes, to reduce growing inequalities.
Finally, in line with Goal 17 of the SDGs, Bangladesh must forge new partnerships with other governments and international organisations to strengthen its domestic resource mobilisation capacity and support inclusive, sustainable growth.
If policymakers act decisively and with foresight, there is still a real possibility for Bangladesh to achieve substantial success in meeting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The window for course correction is narrowing 鈥� but it remains open.
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Amith Kumar Malaker is a health, nutrition and public policy expert.
