The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has issued its annual statistical publication that serves as a global reference for tracking developments in SDG implementation. The report covers SDG indicators relevant to trade, investment, financing for development (FfD), debt, transport, and technology, and puts in focus gender equality in international trade.

The sixth edition of UNCTAD’s SDG Pulse finds that despite significant advancements, “stark disparities” remain between countries.

The report underscores that structurally weak economies are marginalized in world trade. For example, an UNCTAD news article notes, “[d]espite growth in absolute terms, the share of least developed countries (LDCs) in global exports has stagnated at around 1% since 2011.” The report highlights the need to strengthen the multilateral trading system (MTS) for inclusive development.

The SDG Pulse 2024 reveals that for the fifth year in a row, total official development assistance (ODA) reached a record high, peaking at USD 223.7 billion in 2023. However, this represents just 0.37% of developed economies’ gross national income (GNI) – roughly half of the 0.7% goal (SDG target 17.2). Developing countries’ growing external debt and the rising costs of borrowing are also cause of concern, according to the report. Nearly 20% of government revenues in low-income countries (LICs) and LDCs went to debt repayments in 2023 – a fourfold increase from 2013.

The report further finds that persistent technology gaps leave LDCs behind in industrialization. Measuring technological advancement by the proportion of medium- and high-tech in total manufacturing exports, it reveals that in 2022, in developed economies, this figure reached 61%, whereas it was only 35% in Africa. Also in 2022, manufacturing value added per capita in developed economies, at 2015 prices, was USD 5,366. This is 25 times the average of Africa (USD 209) and 33 times the average of LDCs (USD 163).

While LDCs are not on track to meet the SDG target of doubling manufacturing value added and employment (SDG indicators 9.2.1 and 9.2.2), the report shows “relatively constant employment shares alongside increasing value added,” which points to “an encouraging, overall improvement in productivity.”

While the world is off track to curb climate risks, decreasing carbon intensity gives hope for sustainable economy, according to the report. It finds that while greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to rise, reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions intensity – tracked across all regions since 1990 – “are starting to offset higher consumption from population growth.” Acknowledging significant regional disparities in carbon intensity, the report calls for more support for sustainable infrastructure and lower-carbon technologies in developing countries.

The report’s ‘In focus’ section on gender equality lays out a data-informed path to bridging the gender gap in trade.

The SDG Pulse 2024 was released on 8 July 2024, on day one of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). [Publication: SDG Pulse 2024] [UNCTAD News Article]