Social Justice Ireland – Sustainable Progress Index 2025

The Sustainable Progress Index 2025 is a landmark annual report from Social Justice Ireland which ranks 14 comparable EU countries based on their delivery of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The report uses 86 indicators across the 17 goals to analyse and assess their performance on each individual SDG, creates a ranking table for performance overall and concludes with some policy considerations.

The overall Sustainable Progress Index, which includes all 17 goals set out by the UN, concludes that Ireland is in 9th place out of the 14 countries. Countries at the bottom are Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark top the rankings. The index comprises three dimensions: economy, society and environment.

The report finds that Ireland is ranked joint 7th out of the 14 countries on the economy index. Although the record on GDP per capita and GDP growth and the score on employment rate is good – the low score on the economy index is influenced by several factors including investment in Research and Development (Ireland has the second lowest rate of investment in R&D as % GDP in the 14 countries), and the need for further policy action with regard to transport, logistics (we score lowest on logistics capacity among the 14 countries). These lower the score on this dimension.

On the social index, Ireland is just above the middle of the ranking, in 6th place. We score highly on goals relating to education (Ireland ranks in 1st place), peace and justice (we come 4th in the ranking); good health and wellbeing (3rd place) and reduced inequalities (5th place). We score less well on goals reflecting poverty and gender equality.

Ireland is at placed 11th on the environment index. Significant challenges exist if Ireland is to meet our commitment to the environment goals set out in Agenda 2030. Ireland’s score has improved on some environmental SDGs, notably on SDG 11 ‘Sustainable cities and communities’, but poor performance on goals relating to water quality, affordable and clean energy, responsible production and consumption, and climate change are among the key factors driving the result for this dimension.

The goal of the SDGs is to change the perspective of public policy, and our analysis has highlighted both the successes and challenges facing Ireland under the headings of economy, society and environment. Although there is clear evidence of progress in Ireland, still challenges remain. Ireland continues to underperform in areas such as affordable energy, clean water, climate action, innovation and infrastructure, and gender equality. This is dragging our overall ranking down even though we are performing well in other areas such as quality education, economic growth and employment progress and good health and wellbeing.

The SDGs call on all nations to combine economic prosperity, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. Our analysis shows that while Ireland has made some progress, enormous challenges remain under these three headings. Successful implementation of the SDGs requires a balance between economic and social progress and sustaining the planet’s environment and resources as well as combatting climate change. There is much scope for improvement.

Events over the past few years have highlighted the interdependence of our economic, social and natural spheres. It has also made the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs even more challenging, both for the EU and globally. However, they must remain at the top of the policy agenda if we are to ensure a more sustainable future for all.

The Sustainable Progress Index 2025 is available to download here.

Social Justice Ireland’s conference featuring a presentation of the report by Professor Charles MA Clark (St John’s University, New York), Dr Catherine Kavanagh (University College Cork), James Kiernan (SDG Coordinator at Chambers Ireland) and John McGeady (Chief Executive Officer at Social Justice Ireland) can be watched here.