The proportion of ASEAN's population living below the national poverty line fell to 10.8 percent in 2023, down from 13.3 percent in 2016, placing the region firmly on track to achieve its 2030 target, according to the ASEAN Sustainable Development Goals Indicators Progress Report 2025.

Launched virtually by ASEAN-stats in partnership with the Statistics Department of Malaysia, the landmark report provides a regional assessment of achievements and challenges in implementing the 2030 Agenda. It serves as a vital reference for policymakers, offering insights into progress, data gaps, and strategic pathways for SDG monitoring across ASEAN.

Chief statistician and 15th ASEAN Community Statistical System chairman Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the report was developed in close cooperation with ASEAN member states' national statistics offices, consolidating data across ministries, departments and agencies to present a comprehensive overview of progress from 2016 to 2023.

He said the report reflects strong regional collaboration under the ASEAN working group on SDG Indicators with technical support from the ASEAN Secretariat's statistics division.

According to Mohd Uzir, the report's findings also highlighted significant improvements in the health workforce, with the number of medical doctors rising from 6.7 to 8.0 per 10,000 population; nurses and midwives from 26.2 to 29.4; dentists from 1.1 to 1.4; and pharmacists from 2.2 to 2.9.

"Infrastructure and digital connectivity have seen remarkable improvements. Access to electricity increased from 88.5 percent to 95.7 percent of the population. In education, electricity coverage rose from 78.9 percent to 85.3 percent in primary schools, 86.9 percent to 89.3 percent in secondary schools and 98.0 percent in upper secondary schools.

"Fixed broadband subscriptions more than doubled, from 5.7 to 11.8 per 100 population, while Internet usage surged from 50.6 percent to 82.0 percent," he added.

Mohd Uzir said other achievements include a drop in youth unemployment to 8.5 percent from 11.2 percent, an increase in adult account ownership from 60.5 percent to 76.4 percent, an expansion in renewable energy capacity from 60.1 to 74.9 watts per capita, and the adoption of nine ASEAN member states disaster risk strategies aligned with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Steady progress

He said the ASEAN SDG Indicators Progress Report 2025 reflects the region's steady advancement toward sustainable development and provides comprehensive coverage of all 17 goals and 68 associated targets. These are measured through 80 unique indicators or 165 when accounting for sub-indicators and those repeated across multiple targets.

"Over the past seven years, ASEAN has made commendable progress across all goals, highlighting the region's collective commitment to the 2030 Agenda.

"A total of 15 targets are currently on track, particularly in areas such as poverty eradication, health, gender equality, clean energy and institutional strength. Meanwhile, 32 targets show moderate progress and 21 indicate stagnation or regression," he added.

The Star, Malaysia