Problems that will be solved by the end of the century. A Review of UN SDG goals.

Humanity has been faced with problems that are common to every generation since its inception. Acquiring enough food. Finding good shelter. Avoiding predators. Accumulating enough resources. Through it all the species has over time, with each iteration, gotten better at solving these problems. To the point where we can believe that these problems that have troubled us since the dawn of of species will come to an end within our lifetime. We are living in a world where the problems of tomorrow are going to be completely new while the problems of today are forgotten as part of a barbaric history not worth repeating.

For those who doubt this, one must remember that at one point in time ice used to be considered a luxury available only for the kings and wealthy classes of the world. Today, even the poorest person in a random village around the world will have access to ice for their drinks.

To give us a blueprint of problems that we are facing today that are to be eradicated within the century, we must first look at the 17 UN SDG goals as the starting point, to determine what the future world holds for us and how far we are humanity, all of us together, will move forward before the century ends. Let us now evaluate the likelihood of the success of SDG goals in place today.

SDG 1: Eradication of extreme poverty:

As of now, the eradication of poverty goal is far behind the set schedule. By 2030 more than 500 million people are still expected to be stuck in extreme poverty around the world. The good news however, is that the funding for getting rid of extreme poverty is global, so every time a million more people are removed from poverty, extra funds become available to remove the next million from poverty. In 2008 twice the number of people around the world were living in extreme poverty compared to the number stuck in extreme poverty today. Based on that trend line we can expect extreme poverty to be down to 300 million by 2040, then 150 million by 2056, 75 million by 2072, and 30 million by 2088. A trend rate easily stable enough to remove poverty altogether by the end of the century.

SDG 2 : End world hunger:

World hunger generally tends to trend along extreme poverty, as those who are very poor cannot afford good food. By 2030 there are expected to be 600 million people around the world living hungry. Which again is a number that can be solved by the end of the century.

SDG 3 : Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages :

This one has a real chance of not being solved by the end of the century.

SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all :

This goal is based on providing universal secondary education to all children across the world. By 2030 only 1 in 6 countries is expected to achieve this goal. Almost all nation states in the world have realized that investing in education gives returns in terms of GDP growth, so it is possible, not guaranteed, that the world may have universal secondary education by the end of the century. By 2030 84 million children are expected to be out of school, and even including the children who remain in school, 300 million children lack basic numerical/ literacy skills. Taking into account that education is a harder issue to deal with than removing extreme poverty or providing food access, the most likely outcome is that by the end of the century we will have universal primary school education around the world.

SDG 5 : Achieve Gender Equality :

It will fail.

SDG 6 : Clean water and sanitation for all :

Will succeed. Access to clean water is a national priority. It only requires the people handling the water distribution to be smart and it does not matter if everybody else is dumb or not. Nation states value water access. As water filtration technologies evolve over time, we can expect global water access to be achievable by the end of the century. As of now 2.2 billion people across the world lack safe drinking water. As Ocean water filtration technologies fully mature and rain water harvesting comes back in vogue, we can expect this number to go down to zero by the end of the century. It is a natural evolution of all societies to at some point have constant access to clean water.

SDG 7 : Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all :

675 million people around the world still do not have access to electricity. We can expect this number to reach zero by the end of the century due to how fast solar energy is spreading across the world, with its prices becoming ever cheaper to the point that even Sub - Saharan Africa may expect a boom in its availability by the end of the century.

SDG 8 : Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Won't happen. Will fail.

SDG 9 : Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Will happen by the end of the century as it will help with fighting global climate change which is an issue global powers are taking seriously. Industrialization of low income nation states will also help guarantee consistent global GDP growth over time. This goal will succeed due to how economically viable it is.

SDG 10 : Reduce inequality within and among countries :

Won't happen by the end of the century as he richest nation states continue to grow year on year meanwhile the middle income ones keep getting stuck here and there along the way.

SDG 11 : Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable :

Will not happen by the end of the century.

SDG 12 : Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns :

Will happen due to global focus on and top down push for a sustainable world.

SDG 13 : Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts :

Won't be a problem by the end of the century. Global depopulation will help.

SDG 14 : Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development :

Won't happen. Some places will always suffer from over-fishing.

SDG 15 : Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss :

Will succeed in terms of reforestation. Will fail when it comes to halting biodiversity loss.

SDG 16 : Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels :

Won't work.

SDG 17 : Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development :

Will work as it is tied to fighting climate change and developed nations are already interested in it being a global phenomenon.

Conclusion:

None of the SDG goals will be achieved within their 2030 timeline. 33% of the SDG goals will never be reached even by the end of the century and 66% of them have a high chance of being solved by the end of the century, which puts humanity on a path unlike any that they have been on ever before. One without poverty, hunger, or water scarcity on any corner of the world. One where all children have access to primary school education and where no Low Development Nations exist as per today's standards.

The future will not be perfect, but it is guaranteed to be a whole lot better than what we have today.

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