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Sustainable Development Goals for Eswatini

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Child well-being Child-related indicators Population overview

Child well-being

UNICEF’S commitment to data for children is guided by the fact that the SDGs impact every aspect of a child’s life. Our work is structured around 5 overarching areas of well-being for every child which are grounded in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This human rights-based approach pursues a vision of realizing the rights of every child, especially the most disadvantaged and responds to the call to “leave no child behind”, so that the rights of every child, everywhere, will be fulfilled.

Child-related SDG indicators

The 2030 Agenda includes 17 Global Goals addressing the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Attached to the Goals are 169 concrete targets measured by 232 specific indicators.

To chart and track how ambitious and how realistic country targets are, UNICEF created quantifiable country-level benchmarks for child-related indicators for which data are available to measure and monitor child rights on a common scale.

Provided below is a stocktaking of the country’s performance against the 45 child-related SDG indicators, grouping the results into five areas of child well-being to provide an overall assessment of how children are faring. The countries are evaluated using global and national targets. The analysis provides valuable insights into both historic progress – recognizing the results delivered by countries in the recent past – as well as how much additional effort might be required to achieve the child-related SDG targets. This approach provides a framework to assess ambition as well as the scale of action needed to realize it.

Value
Latest year
with data
Historic progress
Effort needed to meet the 2030 target
Survive+thrive Survive+thrive
2.2.1 Prevalence of stunting among children under 5 (%)
21
2022
Strong
Very high effort
2.2.2a Prevalence of wasting among children under 5 (%)
2
2014
Very weak
Target met
2.2.2a Prevalence of overweight among children under 5 (%)
8
2022
Strong
Very high effort
3.b.1 Proportion of surviving infants receiving measles-containing-vaccine first-dose (MCV1) (%)
83
2022
Average
High effort
3.b.1 Proportion of surviving infants receiving 3 doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) (%)
97
2022
Average
Target met
3.1.1 Maternal mortality ratio (deaths per 100,000 live births)
240
2020
Average
Average effort
3.1.2 Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel (%)
88
2014
Strong
Low effort
3.2.1 Under-five mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births)
53
2021
Average
Very high effort
3.2.2 Neonatal mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births)
23
2021
Weak
Very high effort
3.3.1 (HIV Incidence) – New HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population [Children <15]
2
2022
Strong
High effort
3.3.1 (HIV Incidence) – New HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population [Adolescents 15-19]
6
2022
Strong
Very high effort
3.7.2 Adolescent birth rate per 1,000 women
87
2013
Average
High effort
3.8.1 Coverage of essential health services (index)
56
2021
Average
Very high effort
5.6.1 Proportion of women aged 15–49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding reproductive health care (%)
–
–
No data
No data
Learning Learning
4.1.1 Proportion of children and young people in grades 2 or 3 achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading (%)
–
–
No data
No data
4.1.1 Proportion of children and young people in grades 2 or 3 achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in mathematics (%)
–
–
No data
No data
4.1.1 Proportion of children and young people at the end of primary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading (%)
84
2013
Very strong
Average effort
4.1.1 Proportion of children and young people at the end of primary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in mathematics (%)
37
2013
Very strong
Very high effort
4.1.1 Proportion of children and young people at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading (%)
–
–
No data
No data
4.1.1 Proportion of children and young people at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in mathematics (%)
–
–
No data
No data
4.1.2 Completion rate in primary education (%)
66
2019
Weak
Very high effort
4.1.2 Completion rate in lower secondary education (%)
46
2019
Weak
Very high effort
4.1.2 Completion rate in upper secondary education (%)
30
2019
Average
Very high effort
4.2.1 Proportion of children aged 36-59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex (%)
65
2014
Average
Very high effort
4.2.2 Participation rate in organized learning (one year before the official primary entry age) (%)
–
–
No data
No data
Protection Protection
5.2.1 Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner (%)
18
2018
No trend data available
No trend data available
5.3.1 Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 18 (%)
5
2014
Very strong
Average effort
5.3.2 Proportion of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation (%)
–
–
No data
No data
8.7.1 Proportion of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labour (%)
8
2010
No trend data available
No trend data available
16.2.1 Proportion of children 1-14 years who experienced any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by caregivers in the past month (%)
88
2014
No trend data available
No trend data available
16.2.3 Proportion of young women aged 18-29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18 (%)
–
–
No data
No data
16.2.3 Proportion of young men aged 18-29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18 (%)
–
–
No data
No data
16.9.1 Proportion of children under 5 years of age whose births have been registered with a civil authority (%)
54
2014
Average
Very high effort
Environment Environment
1.4.1.a Proportion of the population using basic drinking water services (%)
73
2022
Strong
Very high effort
1.4.1.b Proportion of the population using basic sanitation services (%)
64
2022
Average
Very high effort
6.1.1 Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services (%)
–
–
No data
No data
6.2.1.a Proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services (%)
–
–
No data
No data
6.2.1.b Proportion of population with a basic handwashing facility with soap and water available on premises (%)
24
2020
Weak
Very high effort
6.2.1.c Proportion of population practising open defecation (%)
0
2022
Strong
Target met
Poverty Poverty
1.1.1 Children living in households in extreme poverty (%)
41
2022
Average
Very high effort
1.2.1 Children living below the national poverty line (%)
59
2016
Average
Very high effort
1.2.1 Proportion of children living below the national poverty line, both sexes (%), Covid projections
74
2020
No trend data available
No trend data available
1.2.2 Children living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions (%)
45
2014
No trend data available
No trend data available
1.3.1 Proportion of child population covered by social protection floors/systems (%)
–
–
No data
No data
Legal frameworks that promote, enforce and monitor gender equality in employment and economic benefits
–
–
No data
No data

Historic progress

  • Very weak
  • Weak
  • Average
  • Strong
  • Very strong
  • No trend data available
  • No data

Effort needed to hit relative target

  • Target met
  • Very low effort
  • Low effort
  • Average effort
  • High effort
  • Very high effort
  • Above recorded history
  • No trend data available
  • No data

Note: This dashboard uses internationally comparable data from the global databases held on behalf of the international community by UNICEF and other United Nations agencies. While UNICEF is committed to the localization of SDG targets, global rather than national targets are used to gauge progress on the SDG indicators.  To read more about how the trajectories towards the global targets are assessed please read the methodology note.

Population overview

Understanding of a country’s population levels, trends and projections constitutes an essential ingredient in strategic planning, policy development and program implementation for addressing global challenges and emerging issues.

Total population: 1,210,822 (2023 projections)

Age (yrs)
Male
Female
0-4
5-9
10-14
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
75-79
80-84
85-89
90-94
95-99
100+
69,485
67,998
70,254
69,719
69,327
69,272
63,986
63,118
56,186
54,914
51,691
50,696
52,241
50,654
45,292
43,105
35,197
33,065
25,009
23,739
18,659
19,668
14,171
18,275
10,410
16,054
7,705
12,742
5,378
9,014
2,980
5,155
1,426
2,426
502
871
126
237
24
50
2
5
10
7.5
5
2.5
0
2.5
5
7.5
10
Share of total population (%)

Source: United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects 2022

Related SDG resources

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 (UN DESA)

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