Jamaica has completed its third Voluntary National Review (VNR) of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The VNR is a country-led process that assesses Jamaica’s progress in implementing the SDGs.
Previous Reviews were completed in 2018 and 2022, demonstrating Jamaica’s continuity and sustained commitment to the follow-up and review process for sustainable development planning.
PIOJ Director General, Dr. Wayne Henry (Left) sharing a light moment with development analyst Carlos Applewhite (JIS Photo)
Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s (PIOJ) Dr. Wayne Henry, said that preparation of the third VNR was led by the SDGs Core Group, comprising the PIOJ, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) with contributions coming also from the National 2030 Agenda Oversight Committee and a wide range of other stakeholders.
The Review reported on all 17 SDGs and 133 of the 234 unique indicators included in the global SDG indicator framework.
‘Comparative data up to 2024 from the Sustainable Development Solutions Network shows Jamaica on track to achieving 26 per cent of the global targets, with limited progress on 35.6 per cent, and 38.4 per cent worsening.
With respect to the global picture, 15 per cent of the targets tracked by UNSTAT (United Nations Statistics Division) are on track or have been met, 53 per cent are making progress. and 32 per cent are stagnating or regressing,’ Henry said.
He said 10 years into the implementation of the SDGs, Jamaica used its third VNR to examine development issues across all 17 goals, from modernising social protection systems to strengthening multilateral cooperation, while assessing strategies to accelerate progress and inform the country’s development agenda beyond 2030.
The Director General said the analysis was heavily influenced by Jamaica’s vulnerability as a small island developing state (SIDS) to external shocks.
Consequently, progress towards the SDGs was constrained by the recent impacts of Hurricanes Melissa and Beryl.
Henry reported that the Review highlighted several notable achievements, including a decline in the prevalence of poverty from 21.4 per cent in 2015 to 7.8 per cent in 2024; a record-low unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent in 2025; the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis; a reduction in the public debt-to-GDP ratio from a peak of 135.6 per cent at the end of fiscal year 2012/13 to 62.4 per cent at the end of fiscal year 2024/25; and increases in marine and terrestrial protected areas, alongside improvements in forest cover.
The Director General further noted that these achievements stand in contrast to several persistent challenges, including an increase in the maternal mortality ratio from 87.9 per 100,000 live births in 2015 to 150 per 100,000 live births in 2024; the fact that 24.5 per cent of youth were neither employed nor engaged in education or training as at July 2024; and the high level of informal employment, which was last recorded at 510,000 persons in 2022.
‘Progress in achieving the SDGs continues to be constrained by recurring issues related to climate change, inadequate productive capacity and external energy shocks,’ The PIOJ Director General said.
‘However, accelerating achievement has been linked to increased emphasis on improving health and educational outcomes, community development and revitalising industry and innovation, with institutional strengthening critical to the process,’ he said, noting that Jamaica presented the insights from the VNR at the recently concluded High-level Political Forum (HLPF) at the United Nations Headquarters in July.
Henry said the HLPF platform was used to advocate for middle-income countries and SIDS.
‘This effort was made possible through wide-ranging consultations across government, community groups, local authorities, civil society groups, private sector, and the youth,’ he stated.