Sustainable development means combining economic, social, and environmental goals to maximize present-day human well-being without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs. Indicators of sustainable development are criteria and tools for measuring and evaluating the movement towards sustainability. In this research, sustainable development and its progress in the world and Iran are examined. The research method is descriptive-analytical, and the way of collecting information is documentary and library and translating texts. Efforts have been made to address sustainable development goals, the characteristics of sustainable development indicators, and determine the progress of sustainable development goals. Analyzing domestic sources and documents of international institutions such as UNEP, it was concluded that the 17 indicators of sustainable development are divided into 230 smaller measurable indicators. According to the authors, the first and second indexes and sixteen and seventeen can be combined. With the exception of a few indicators, including the sustainable use of water, the rest are improving globally. According to the results of studies, most indicators are improving, and some of them are declining in some parts of the world, such as the sustainable use of water. The results show that in Iran, from the beginning of the development of books on development laws, there has been attention to the environment's issue. There is no reference to sustainable development in the first and third plans, but in the fifth plan, this issue has five articles. Finally, unfortunately, there is a big gap between performance goals and outcomes. The situation of indicators in Iran has also been improving in many of them, and with better planning and global convergence, this improvement is expected to continue.