MANILA - The Philippines is on track to achieving a number of goals in the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but is falling behind on others, the state statistics bureau said on Monday.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Asst. National Statistician Wilma Guillen said the country has made progress in eight out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.
She said the Philippines is on track on achieving the target to “reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women & children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions."
The country is also on track to achieving World Health Organization's Framework on Tobacco Control and improving water quality, Guillen also told a Senate hearing on the Philippines’ progress on SDGs.
However, she also noted that the country was "regressing” when it came to sustaining “at least 7 percent GDP growth per annum” which is recommended for the “least developed countries".
The Philippines is also losing ground when it came to achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all, including young people and persons with disabilities, as well as equal pay for work of equal value.
The country was also regressing on substantially reducing the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training.
"For youth NEET (not in employment, education or training), it has been made steady for 2019 (18.4 percent) and 2020 (18.4 percent), but it went up in 2021 (30 percent) And our target here for 2030 is 10 percent," Guillen explained.
Another area where the Philippines was regressing was reducing the number of people affected by disasters as well as deaths from calamities.
- Report from Arra Perez, ABS-CBN News
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