15 April 2016: “Only a few of the 169 targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can currently be tracked and measured completely,” finds the 2016 edition of the World Development Indicators (WDI). The 2016 report, which provides 1,400 indicators for over 200 economies that can be used to compare development and people’s lives around the globe, is one of the first World Bank publications that has begun phasing out the term “developing world,” arguing that the global focus of the SDGs means that the term is becoming less relevant.

Although the WDI report no longer uses developed and developing country distinctions, the database still includes global aggregates that exclude high-income economies, in recognition of continued demand for such data. An additional change in the 2016 WDI is the inclusion of geographical groupings, rather than references to developing and developed countries, including a new aggregate for North America and aggregates for Europe and Central Asia, including EU countries.

Another feature of the 2016 WDI is the inclusion of indicators to support measurement and monitoring of the SDGs and their targets. Additions include: a SDG data dashboard, which provides an interactive presentation of indicators related to each Goal; and an expanded focus on trends to support SDG measurement. The World View section includes baselines for key targets, and analysis of key trends for each SDG, as well as information on three cross-cutting areas: fragility, conflict and violence; financial inclusion; and statistical capacity.

Observing that only a limited number of targets can currently be tracked and measured, the WDI argues that governments and development partners need to continue investing in national statistical systems and public institutions, and strengthen partnerships with the private sector and others to advance new data collection and analysis techniques.

On SDG 1 (End poverty in all its forms everywhere), the WDI reports that extreme poverty has decreased from 37% in 1990 to 13% in 2012. The WDI includes estimates of global and national extreme poverty rates, using an international poverty line of US$1.90 a day per person, as well as estimates of indicators of shared prosperity for 94 countries, which include the growth rates of average income of the bottom 40%. The WDI predicts that the global extreme poverty rate will fall to four percent by 2030, with regional variations, if national growth rates for the past ten years continue for the next 15 years, but only to six percent if growth rates from the past 20 years prevail. The report stresses that a step change from historical growth rates is critical to eliminate extreme poverty.

In a blog post, the World Bank highlights WDI trends on forest cover, fisheries, nutrition and birth registration. Despite increases in forest coverage in most regions, it says, Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa have lost 97 and 83 million hectares of forest cover since 1990, respectively. The world now farms as much fish as it catches: WDI shows that aquaculture has increased dramatically since 1980, while capture fisheries have stagnated. On nutrition, the WDI finds that, despite overall declines in undernourishment globally, more than 25% of the population in low-income countries is unable to meet their dietary energy requirements. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest number of registered births, with less than half of children’s births recorded in 2011.

The World Bank plans to publish a series of blogs using the WDI data, to further analyze and comment on data and the SDGs and to highlight measurement challenges.

Over 50 international organizations, more than 200 national statistical offices and country experts, and World Bank officials contributed to the WDI. The WDI is available free of charge as part of the World Bank’s Open Data Initiative. [WDI Website] [World Development Indicators 2016: WDI Highlights] [World Bank Blog] [WDI Blogs]