Life Below Water
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Ocean protected as MPA
8.5% (est)
UNEP estimate · 2025
Marine plastic pollution
17 million tons/yr (est)
UNEP estimate · 2025
Fish stocks overfished
38% (est)
FAO estimate · 2025
Marine protected areas count
18,500 (est)
UNEP estimate · 2025
Global Progress Score
Based on Sustainable Development Report 2025
Historical Trend (2015–2025)
Regional Comparison (2025)
Goal 14: Life Below Water — Score per Country (2025)
Each country is scored 0–100 based on its progress toward this goal. Drag to rotate. Hover or tap a country to see its score.
Key Targets
SDR 2025 scores SDG 14 at 51.7/100 globally — the lowest-scoring goal and with a declining trend. Ocean deoxygenation (dead zones) expanded to 900 sites globally in 2024 (GO2NE 2025). The global Plastics Treaty negotiations continued without agreement on production caps in 2025. Marine protected area coverage stood at 8.3% in 2025 — progress toward 30×30 is running a decade behind schedule. The economic value of healthy oceans is estimated at $24 trillion/year in goods and services (WWF 2015 estimate, updated); their degradation represents an enormous and largely unaccounted economic loss.
51.7 / 100
SDG 14's global score in SDR 2025 — the lowest of all 17 goals, with a declining trend and accelerating threats from warming, acidification, and overfishing.
SDSN: Sustainable Development Report 2025
Key Insights
Fish Stock Collapse Risk
33% of global fish stocks are fished at biologically unsustainable levels; 60% are at their maximum sustainable yield. 3.3 billion people rely on seafood as their primary protein source. Projections suggest that commercial fisheries in key regions could collapse by 2048 without drastic reduction in fishing pressure.
Ocean Acidification
CO₂ dissolving in seawater has made oceans 30% more acidic since the industrial revolution. This dissolves the calcium carbonate shells of corals, oysters, and plankton — the base of the marine food chain. The Great Barrier Reef experienced 5 mass bleaching events since 2016. The 2024 global bleaching event was the worst ever recorded.
Plastic Ocean
11 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean annually; by 2050, plastic in oceans could outweigh fish by mass. Microplastics are found in the deepest ocean trenches, in whale stomachs, and in the fish we eat. The first global Plastics Treaty was negotiated in 2024, but key provisions remain contested.
The Unknown Deep
Only 26% of the ocean floor has been mapped — humans know less about the deep ocean than about the surface of Mars. Yet deep-sea mining interests are accelerating rapidly, targeting polymetallic nodules rich in cobalt, lithium, and nickel. Mining could destroy ecosystems we have never even seen.
Core Challenges
The 30×30 Gap
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework set a target of protecting 30% of oceans by 2030. Currently only 8.3% is under protection — and much of that is "paper protection" with little actual enforcement. High seas governance improved with the BBNJ Agreement (2023), but implementation is in early stages.
Illegal Fishing
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing costs $23 billion/year and undermines every sustainable fisheries management effort. Satellite monitoring and port state measures are improving detection, but political will to prosecute fishing vessel owners — often registered in flags-of-convenience states — remains weak.
Subsidy Reform
The WTO reached a landmark agreement in 2022 to end the most harmful fisheries subsidies — $22 billion/year that go to industrial fleets overexploiting stocks. Ratification and implementation have been slow, and exemptions for developing countries create grey areas in enforcement.
2030 Outlook
The ocean is Earth's life support system, regulating climate, generating oxygen, and feeding billions. It has absorbed the worst of climate change on our behalf. Protecting it requires ending overfishing, cutting plastic at source, reducing CO₂ emissions, and establishing a genuinely enforced network of marine protected areas. The time is short.