The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a global plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. With its 17 SDGsSustainable Development Goal, it seeks inclusive and universal progress along the three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. This demands a new level of cooperation among all actors in the national and international spheres.

SDGSustainable Development Goal Pulse approaches the Goals from the point of view of data and statistics. To fully implement and monitor progress on the SDGs, decision makers need accurate, timely, relevant and accessible statistics. Although data availability and quality are constantly improving, there is still a need to strengthen statistical capacity, enhance data literacy at all levels of decision-making, and find innovative approaches to monitor sustainable development (United Nations, 2017).

With more than fifty years of trade and development expertise and experience, UNCTAD implements programmes to help countries advance towards a number of SDGs. We also develop and implement methodologies to measure several SDG indicators, including those for which UNCTAD is the custodian. There is a lot of ground already covered (UNCTAD, 2016). In this report, the goals and indicators selected reflect UNCTAD’s broad mandate on the interrelated issues of trade, investment, finance, technology and sustainable development.

Goal 1: No poverty

Indicator 1.5.1: Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population.
Indicator 1.5.2: Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP).

Goal 2: Zero hunger

Indicator 2.1.1: Prevalence of undernourishment.
Indicator 2.1.2: Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES).
Indicator 2.b.1: Agricultural export subsidies.
Indicator 2.c.1: Indicator of (food) price anomalies.

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation

Indicator 6.1.1: Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services.

Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth

Indicator 8.9.1: Tourism direct GDP as a proportion of total GDP and in growth rate (Tier II)
Indicator 8.a.1 Aid for Trade commitments and disbursements

Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Indicator 9.1.2: Passenger and freight volumes, by mode of transport (Tier I).
Indicator 9.2.1: Manufacturing value added as a proportion of GDP and per capita (Tier I).
Indicator 9.2.2: Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment (Tier I).
Indicator 9.4.1: CO2 emission per unit of value added.
Indicator 9.5.1: Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP (Tier I).
Indicator 9.5.2: Researchers (in full-time equivalent) per million inhabitants (Tier I).
Indicator 9.b.1: Proportion of medium and high-tech industry value added in total manufacturing value added (Tier I).
Indicator 9.c.1: Proportion of population covered by a mobile network, by technology (Tier I).

Goal 10: Reduced inequalities

Indicator 10.a.1: Proportion of tariff lines applied to imports from LDCs and developing countries with zero-tariff (Tier I)
Indicator 10.b.1: Total resource flows for development, by recipient and donor countries and type of flow

Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production

Indicator 12.5.1: National recycling rate, tons of material recycled.
Indicator 12.6.1: Number of companies publishing sustainability reports.

Goal 14: Life below water

Indicator 14.4.1: Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels.
Indicator 14.7.1: Sustainable fisheries as a proportion of GDP in small island developing States, least developed countries and all countries.

Goal 15: Life on land

Indicator 15.1.1: Forest area as a proportion of total land area.
Indicator 15.5.1: Red List Index.

Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions

Indicator 16.4.1: Total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (in current United States dollars) (Tier II)

Goal 17: Partnership for the goals

Indicator 17.2.1 Net official development assistance, total and to least developed countries.
Indicator 17.3.1 Additional financial resources mobilized for developing countries from multiple sources.
Indicator 17.4.1: Debt service as a proportion of exports of goods and services (Tier I).
Indicator 17.5.1: Implement investment promotion regimes for LDCs.
Indicator 17.6.1: Fixed Internet broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by speed (Tier I).
Indicator 17.8.1: Proportion of individuals using the Internet (Tier I)
Indicator 17.10.1: Worldwide weighted tariff-average (Tier I).
Indicator 17.11.1: Developing countries’ and least developed countries’ share of global exports (Tier I).
Indicator 17.12.1: Average tariffs faced by developing countries, LDCs and SIDS (Tier I).

References

• UNCTAD (2016). Development and globalization: Facts and figures 2016. Available at https://stats.unctad.org/Dgff2016/ (accessed 19 April 2019).
• United Nations (2017). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017. United Nations publication. Sales No. E.17.I.7. New York.