On a humid afternoon in Nairobi’s Kibera settlement, 12-year-old Amina sits cross-legged in a dimly lit classroom, carefully sounding out the words in her English textbook. Just a decade ago, the odds were stacked against her. Girls in her neighborhood often dropped out before finishing primary school, trapped in a cycle of early marriage and poverty. But Amina, part of a generation shaped by global investments in education, represents a different future. “I want to be a teacher,” she says, her smile betraying both pride and defiance.
Amina’s dream is part of a much larger story, one that began in 2015, when nearly every country in the world signed onto the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These 17 targets were more than just policy jargon: they promised to end extreme poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030.
Eight years on, how close are we to keeping that promise?
Poverty’s Decline and Its Stubborn Grip: Back in 2015, the world celebrated a historic milestone: for the first time, fewer than 10% of the global population lived in extreme poverty. By 2023 that figure stood at 8.5%, as equal to 659 million people down from 1.9 billion in 1990. In East Asia, entire generations were lifted out of destitution. In the 1990s, poverty gripped more than 60% of people across the region. Today, the figure hovers below 5%.
But in Sub-Saharan Africa, the story is grimmer. In a village outside Kano, Nigeria, 34-year-old Musa Ibrahim recounts how his family lost everything during the pandemic. “Before COVID, I worked in the city, sending money home. Then the lockdown came, and I lost my job. My children stopped going to school because we could not pay.”
Musa’s struggle echoes across the continent, where conflict, climate shocks, and rapid population growth have left millions vulnerable. In 2020, COVID-19 reversed years of hard-won progress, pushing poverty rates up for the first time in decades. While recovery is underway, the setback exposed how fragile global gains remain.
As concerning the Health Revolutions, from HIV to maternal care, not all is bleak. If poverty reduction has stumbled, global health has seen near-miraculous advances. In rural Malawi, 28-year-old Grace cradles her newborn daughter with relief. Two decades ago, childbirth here was perilous; maternal deaths were common, and healthcare scarce. “My mother lost two babies before me,” Grace says softly. “Now, we have nurses, medicines, and help.”
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