A new report highlights the gaps that remain on the road to achieving the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Sweden. The Agenda provides an action plan for countries to achieve 17 economic, social and environmental Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
Entitled ‘Leaving no one behind: Statistical review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Sweden’, the new report focuses particularly on identifying groups in which the SDGs are not being reached. Among these groups, a higher proportion of individuals are not receiving their human rights.
The report describes Sweden’s goals of educational equity and strong inclusive education systems. However, it also highlights that there is still much to be done to ensure equity across Swedish society. Important statistics are missing on some vulnerable groups, which makes it difficult to monitor progress within these groups. The statistics that are available show that some groups are particularly vulnerable, including among migrants and people with disabilities. A gender gap also remains in many areas, and the report indicates that inequalities in some groups are actually increasing, rather than decreasing.
Equality in education is described as a ‘strong protective factor’ in many of the areas examined in the report. Comprehensive data collection can also help to identify many of the vulnerabilities highlighted in the report, which in turn enables more positive steps towards achieving the 2030 Agenda.
The report was published by Statistics Sweden, with collaborations from the Swedish National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools (SPSM) and the National Agency for Education (NAE). It is available in Swedish and English on the Statistics Sweden website.