Measuring Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): An Inclusive Approach

Four years on from the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), countries around the world seek methods that provide simple but comprehensive narratives on their progress. Given the complexity of the agenda and its indicator framework, key questions that arise are what is an appropriate method to summarize information? and how to get everyone counted? This paper provides an overview of various existing methodologies for assessing progress towards the SDGs. It provides guidance on how to choose an appropriate method that is fit for the purpose of analysis. The paper also recommends an approach for measuring SDG progress that accounts for progress among the furthest left behind groups in order to fulfil the leave no-one behind ambition of the 2030 agenda. Applying the new approach to data from countries in Asia-Pacific region shows that, when disaggregated statistics are available, the inclusive measurement can significantly change the progress narrative and our understanding of priorities for SDGs implementation.