In terms of poverty eradication, the EU has performed well in all areas in the Eurostat study. According to the study, more and more people in the EU are able to meet their basic needs, the number of people affected by income poverty or severe material and social deprivation has fallen, as has the number of (quasi-)jobless households. The housing situation has also improved. However, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty development was not captured by the data.

In the EU context, SDG 2 focuses on malnutrition and the sustainability of agricultural production. With regard to the first aspect, a negative trend can be observed: More and more people in the EU are overweight or obese. In agriculture, the picture is more positive. Labour productivity in the sector has increased as has the investment in agricultural research and development. It is also positive that more and more land is being farmed organically, although the share of such land needs to grow even more in order to reach the 25% target. The use of hazardous pesticides is also decreasing too slowly. In addition, nitrate levels in groundwater continue to rise, and farmland birds are disappearing more and more. On the other hand, there is a positive development in reducing the risk of water-related soil erosion and ammonia emissions.

The data on SDG 3 does not yet reflect the impact of the pandemic. Overall, the survey showed a positive trend. Fewer people suffer from noise and air pollution, there are fewer smokers and deaths from HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis, as well as from work and traffic accidents, are declining. However, the 2020 target for reducing road accidents has not been met. Access to health services has generally improved in recent years, but the number of people who cannot meet their health needs has stagnated since 2017. Another negative aspect is the increase in overweight and obese people.

In the field of education, the report points to two contradictory developments. While the EU is on a good path in terms of participation in education, the number of those who can read poorly or have insufficient skills in maths or science has increased. There has been progress in adult education. However, access to early childhood education and the proportion of adults with basic IT skills are stagnating, making it difficult or unlikely to achieve the targets in these areas.

In terms of gender equality, the situation in the EU is steadily improving. For example, the gender pay gap and the gender employment gap have continued to narrow, and more and more women are in leadership positions. However, we are still far from real parity. In the field of education, the gender gap is reversed and widening, i.e. boys and men have fewer and fewer educational achievements compared to girls and women.

For SDG 6, the overall assessment is neutral. Sanitation has improved and more and more households have access to (at least) secondary wastewater treatment. However, water quality has continued to deteriorate: biochemical hydrogen demand in rivers has dropped, while phosphate concentrations have increased. Nitrate concentrations have also risen, but remain below the permitted limits. In addition, there are fewer and fewer bathing spots with good water quality.

In terms of energy consumption, the EU was only able to reach its 2020 energy efficiency target thanks to the sharp drop in energy consumption in 2020 due to the pandemic, putting it back on track for 2030, according to the report. The share of renewable energy has also increased according to plan and the EU was able to slightly reduce its dependence on energy imports. The 5-year trend in access to affordable energy is also positive. However, there were more people unable to adequately heat their homes in 2020 and the energy price increase since 2021 is not yet factored in.

The study shows that the EU is recovering from the effects of the pandemic in terms of the economy and the labour market. GDP grew strongly in 2021, although it is still slightly below pre-pandemic levels. The EU employment rate was 73.1% in 2021 and there is less youth unemployment. However, the progress in employment is not sufficient to reach the 2030 targets. Long-term unemployment and the share of the 'working poor' have fallen, and there have also been fewer fatal accidents at work. Overall, however, the war is causing growing insecurity.

There has been significant progress in infrastructure, industrialisation and innovation. Expenditure on research and development and the proportion of people working in research and development have risen. The proportion of young people with tertiary education is growing. In addition, more patent applications are being received by the European Patent Office and the manifacturing sector of industry has reduced its emissions intensity. The gross value added in environmental goods and services has also seen an increase. With regard to sustainable infrastructure, the survey came to mixed results. On the negative side, the trend can been observed that passenger and freight transport is increasingly moving away from environmentally friendly means of transport, while on the positive side, more and more households are enjoying high-speed internet.

There has been moderate progress towards the goal of reducing inequalities within and between countries. The urban-rural gap has shrunk and the integration of migrants into the labour market has improved. The situation of EU and non-EU citizens in terms of education and income is constantly converging. However, the findings are based on data from before the pandemic.

According to the report, the quality of life in cities and municipalities has greatly improved. There are positive trends with regard to housing shortage, noise and fine dust pollution, crime, violence and vandalism. However, more and more people prefer the car to public transport. In recent years, fewer people have died in traffic accidents, but the goal of halving the number of traffic fatalities by 2020 has not been achieved. Another negative development is the increasingly extensive use of land and the slowdown in the increase of the recycling rate. The 2030 target is thus becoming a distant prospect.

Moderate progress has been recorded in the area of consumption and production. The EU's material footprint has increased since 2014, and the consumption of hazardous chemicals has also risen. In contrast, great progress has been made in the CO2 emission efficiency of new passenger cars. However, this is still not enough to reach the emission targets. There has been an increase in waste production since 2014, but the material input ratio has improved. In addition, the gross value added in environmental goods and services has grown strongly.

For SDG 13, the overall assessment is slightly positive. According to estimates for 2020, the EU has already reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 31% since 1990. However, more needs to be done to reach the EU's new 55% target, especially given the expected increase in emissions as the economy recovers. In addition, carbon removal from land use and the forest sector has decreased in recent years. In the area of CO2 emission efficiency of passenger cars, there is still need for action despite significant progress. The rising costs of weather- and climate-related disasters are another cause for concern. On the positive side, the number of signatures to the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy is on the increase, as is the EU's contribution to climate financing in developing countries.

The report assesses the developments in underwater conservation and sustainable fishing as positive. For example, the area of protected areas has more than doubled since 2012. However, there is no reliable data on the effectiveness of protection. Fish stocks have recovered slightly in the Northeast Atlantic as well as in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The condition of bathing sites has also improved. The acidification of surface water due to the absorption of CO2, on the other hand, has reached a new record level in 2020.

Biodiversity in the EU remains under immense pressure. While there are more protected areas, land use, including soil sealing, is intensifying, causing bird and butterfly species to disappear. The biochemical oxygen demand in rivers has decreased, but the phosphate concentration in rivers is getting higher. Although it is positive that the risk of soil erosion by water has declined, the overall state of ecosystems and biodiversity in the EU is rather critical.

The EU's greatest progress on the 2030 Agenda has been recorded with regard to SDG 16. In recent years, the EU has promoted peace and personal security on its territory and improved access to justice and trust in institutions. There have been fewer murders and assaults, and crime, violence and vandalism have decreased in the perception of citizens. In addition, governments spend more and more money on courts and people's trust in the independence of the judiciary and in EU institutions has grown.

The conclusion for SDG 17 is neutral. Imports from developing countries have increased, but we are seeing a decline in financial support for these countries. However, this primarily concerns private funds, official development assistance, by contast, has been expanded. In addition, the value of imports from developing countries has increased. After a record high in 2020, the deficit-to-GDP ratio has fallen slightly in 2021. On the negative side, the share of environmental taxes in total tax revenues continues to decline. On the other hand, the fact that more and more households have access to high-speed internet is a positive trend.