Measuring and Monitoring Provincial Sustainable Development Goals in China

This study addresses the paucity of research concerning the elimination of development gaps and fairness issues in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the sub-national level. Drawing upon China's provinces as cases, we compute the China Provincial Sustainable Development Goal Index (CPSDGI), comprising one total SDG index and 14 individual SDG indices, and employ an array of quantitative methods, including the Theil index, SDG dashboard, linear regression, and spatial autocorrelation analysis, to scrutinize inter-provincial disparities and frontier issues. Our results indicate the following: (1) Despite some reduction in disparities among the three regions in China, overall provincial discrepancies have not undergone significant amelioration, with each province exhibiting persistent vulnerabilities across various SDGs; (2) while economic development imbalances have been alleviated, disparities in public services have become more salient and onerous to address; (3) notably, gender equality gaps are more arduous to narrow than those in economic equality; and (4) most significantly, SDG9 manifests the most uneven development and necessitates greater attention with respect to both time and space. The study carries implications for SDG localization and emphasizes the crucial imperative of the SDG principle of 'no one left behind'.