The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, in collaboration with chief statisticians from the UN system, ETH Zurich, and national partners, issued a report on the state of global SDG data, highlighting opportunities for progress at the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A customizable SDG data visualization tool accompanies the publication. 

Titled, ‘Pulse of Progress: The State of Global SDG Data in 2023,’ the report outlines the critical role of data in tracking progress, predicting challenges, prioritizing efforts, mobilizing resources, and tailoring solutions. It underscores that data can catalyze progress by driving more effective, efficient, equitable, timely, and transparent action for people and the planet.

The report explains that to enable measurement of progress towards the 17 Goals and 169 associated targets, the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), developed 231 unique indicators. Member States and custodian agencies collect data on SDG indicators in the form of 659 unique series. One to a maximum of 20 such components belong to a specific indicator.

The report warns that data are insufficient to adequately reflect the global state of affairs. For example, we only have sufficient data for 16.9% of the series on SDG 5 (gender equality). For SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), only 21.3% and 23.6% of the series, respectively, are available. The report also flags timeliness and disaggregation among areas of major concern.

Four key takeaways highlight that:

• We need more data on urgent priorities, supported by further investment in data collection processes and national statistical systems to effectively measure progress;
• Developing countries are among the top performers, with 18 of the 30 Member States with the highest data availability being developing countries;
• We have reached consensus on measurement but while all SDG indicators have been conceptually clear since 2020, data availability varies among custodian agencies; and
• Reporting speed is gaining traction, with same-year data reporting, while limited in absolute terms, increasing by 150% between 2019 and 2022.

ETH Zurich’s SDG Monitor allows users to customize many of the analyses contained in the report. For example, they can visualize data availability for a particular custodian agency’s portfolio of indicators for any country or engage with data availability at the series level.

The Global Partnership’s goal is to have data for at least 90% of the SDG targets in each country by 2027.

The report was published ahead of the 2023 SDG Summit, on 15 September. [Publication: Pulse of Progress: The State of Global SDG Data in 2023: Global SDG Data Availability and Opportunities for Progress at the Midpoint of the 2030 Agenda] [Publication Landing Page]