This article relates to Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal icon by the United Nations. Emberoot is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the UN.
SDG 9 asks the world to build infrastructure that holds up under pressure, grow industry in a way that includes more people and pollutes less, and spend more on research. It is one of the 17 Global Goals that UN member states agreed in 2015, and it sits behind the roads, power lines, mobile masts, factories and laboratories that almost every other goal depends on. This guide sets out the targets in plain English, what the latest data says and where progress has stalled.
What SDG 9 covers
The official wording on the UN goal page is short:
Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
In practice that breaks into three linked jobs. Infrastructure means the physical and digital networks a country runs on: transport, energy, water, ports and telecoms. Industrialisation means moving more people into productive work in manufacturing and related services, without locking in heavy pollution. Innovation means the research, skills and small firms that turn ideas into products. A country can build a motorway and still miss the goal if the factories it serves are dirty, the jobs are few, or nobody local can maintain the equipment.
The SDG 9 targets in plain English
There are eight targets. The codes below match the official list.
- 9.1 Build reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including cross-border links, with affordable and fair access for everyone.
- 9.2 Raise industry’s share of jobs and GDP by 2030, and double it in the least developed countries.
- 9.3 Give small industrial and other firms better access to finance, including affordable credit, and to value chains and markets.
- 9.4 Upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industry by 2030 so they use resources more efficiently and adopt cleaner technology.
- 9.5 Strengthen scientific research, raise the number of researchers and increase public and private spending on research and development.
- 9.a Back infrastructure in developing countries with more finance, technology and technical help, especially in Africa, the poorest countries and small island states.
- 9.b Support home-grown technology and research in developing countries, including policies that add value to raw commodities.
- 9.c Greatly increase access to information technology and aim for universal, affordable internet in the least developed countries.
Where the world stands on SDG 9
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 gives the latest global picture. Most of the figures below refer to 2023 or 2025, because global data takes time to collect.
Manufacturing output per person has grown: from $1,657 in 2015 to $1,956 in 2025, in constant 2020 prices. But manufacturing’s share of the world economy has not moved from 15.6%, and its share of global jobs slipped from 14.3% to 13.7% over the same decade. Regional gaps are wide. Output per person in Central and Southern Asia rose 47.9% since 2015, while Latin America and the Caribbean fell 16.7%.
Connectivity is better than it was. In 2025, 4G reached 93% of the world’s population and 5G reached 55%. The split by income is stark, though: 5G covered 84% of people in high-income countries and 4% in low-income countries, according to the same report. The International Telecommunication Union estimates about 6 billion people used the internet in 2025, leaving 2.2 billion offline, and 96% of those offline live in low and middle-income countries.
Research spending rose from 1.71% of world GDP in 2015 to 1.92% in 2023. The number of researchers went from 1,141 to 1,486 per million people. Europe and Northern America had 4,358 researchers per million in 2023; sub-Saharan Africa had 88. Women make up 31.4% of researchers worldwide.
What is off track
Four problems stand out.
- Industry is not growing as a share of the economy, so target 9.2, which asks the poorest countries to double it, looks far away.
- Emissions from fuel and industry hit a record 38.1 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2025. Clean energy built since 2019 avoided about 3 billion tonnes that year, but that has slowed growth rather than reversed it.
- Target 9.c set 2020 as the date for universal, affordable internet in the least developed countries. That date has passed. The ITU says mobile broadband is still unaffordable in about 60% of low and middle-income countries.
- Small firms struggle to borrow. Survey data from 2006 to 2024, reported in the UN SDG Report 2025, found 31% of small manufacturers had a loan or credit line, falling to 18% in sub-Saharan Africa.
Why SDG 9 matters beyond engineering
Clinics need reliable power. Schools need a connection. Farmers need roads to reach buyers before produce spoils. Much of the progress on health, education, jobs and climate runs through the networks SDG 9 describes, which is why the goal is often treated as an enabler for the rest of the Global Goals.
For a business, the goal shows up in supplier reliability, energy costs, the reach of digital channels and the skills of the people it can hire. If you are working out where your own operations touch these themes, our strategy work starts from the same questions. The SDG 9 goal page collects the targets, figures and practical actions in one place.
Frequently asked questions
What does SDG 9 stand for?
SDG 9 is the ninth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals agreed at the UN in 2015. Its short name is industry, innovation and infrastructure. It aims to build resilient infrastructure, make industrialisation inclusive and sustainable, and increase research and innovation, with most targets set for 2030. It covers physical networks such as roads and power as well as digital networks such as mobile broadband.
Is the world on track to meet SDG 9?
Only partly. Mobile coverage and research spending have improved, but the UN SDG Report 2026 shows manufacturing stuck at 15.6% of world GDP and record industrial emissions in 2025. The 2020 deadline for universal, affordable internet in the least developed countries was missed, and 2.2 billion people were still offline in 2025, according to the ITU.
How is SDG 9 connected to the other goals?
Many goals rely on SDG 9. Health services need electricity and transport, education increasingly needs internet access, decent jobs often come from industry, and climate goals depend on cleaner factories and power. That is why progress on infrastructure and innovation tends to speed up progress elsewhere, and why gaps in it hold other goals back.