SDG 11: Towards sustainable cities and communities

As the EU starts the European week of regions and cities, we look at the Sustainable Development Goal ‘Sustainable cities and communities’  (SDG 11) and how the EU performs in this area. SDG 11 promotes the renewal and planning of cities and other human settlements. They should offer opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and green public spaces, while improving resource use and reducing environmental impacts.

Monitoring SDG 11 in the EU focuses on progress made in enriching the quality of life in cities and communities, fostering sustainable mobility and improving environmental impacts.

SDGs are monitored with a range of indicators. For SDG 11, one of them is premature deaths due to exposure to fine particulate matter. In 2021, there were 253 305 premature deaths in the EU due to air pollution through fine particulate matter, indicating a decrease of 10.2% compared with 2016 (281 995 deaths) and an impressive 41% drop compared with 2005 (431 114 deaths).

Source datasets: sdg_11_52

The recycling rate of municipal waste reached 48.6% in 2022, an increase of 2.3 percentage points (pp) compared with 2017 (46.3%).

Quality of life is monitored by indicators such as‚ people living in households affected by noise and road traffic deaths. In 2023, 18.2% of people in the EU reported suffering from noise in their households (no change compared to 2018). 

Regarding road traffic deaths, in 2022, 20 653 people died in road traffic in the EU, indicating a decrease of 11.7% from 2017 (23 392 deaths) and 61% since 2000 (53 410 deaths). Data show that around half of the road traffic deaths (10 392) occurred on rural roads in 2022. 

Compared with 2000, road traffic deaths on rural roads decreased by 63% (-17 564 deaths), on urban roads by 56% (-9 419) and on motorways by 47% (- 1 622). 

Source datasets: sdg_11_40

How is your country doing in this regard?

Do you know how much household waste is recycled in your country? Or what is the health impact of air pollution?  

The visualisation tools in our data visualisation ‘SDGs & me’ will help you to easily explore and evaluate the situation in your country and compare it to others.

Select your country in the header and choose different indicators of SDG 11 to find out more:

Would you like to learn more?

You can find out more about the EU’s progress towards the SDGs with the following products: 

• The publication Sustainable Development in the European Union – Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context – 2024 edition,  and the corresponding  brochure provide an overview of progress towards the SDGs in the EU; 
• The visualisation tool - SDG country overview - which compares country level data with the EU average for each SDG; 
• The recording of the webinar on the EU’s progress, held on 20th June, 2024.

The European week of regions and cities is an annual four-day event in which European cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance.