SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.5:

By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value

Target 8.5 has two indicators:

• Indicator 8.5.1: Average hourly earnings of employees, by sex, age, occupation and persons with disabilities

• Indicator 8.5.2: Unemployment rate, by sex, age and persons with disabilities  

Only a couple dozen countries have data for employees’ average hourly earnings. The highest among them was Switzerland. By sex, the greatest difference was in South Korea, where the average hourly earnings of male employees of $23.96 and $15.91 for women.

The global unemployment rate as of 2022 was 5.3%, with gender differences only a fractional difference.

SDG #7 is to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”

Within SDG #6 are 5 targets, of which we here focus on Target 7.1:

By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services

Target 7.1 has two indicators:

• Indicator 7.1.1: Proportion of population with access to electricity

• Indicator 7.1.2: Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology 

The obvious importance of electricity access lies as it’s a marker of living standards, as well as a necessity for health.

The World Bank has measured access to electricity worldwide to be 91% as of 2021. To break this up, Europe and Central Asia have full electrification, as do the high-income and the upper-middle income countries. The regions of the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and East Asia and the Pacific have between 97-98%. The lower-middle income countries have a similar proportion to the global population. 45% in low-income countries have electricity. 

As we saw in Target 3.9, air pollution from stoves burning solid cooking fuels in households in some developing countries is a health risk. By contrast, in high-income countries, households tend to use cooking and energy methods not posing a health risk. Dirty fuels also pose affect the environment and contribute to climate change.

The World Health Organization estimates access to clean cooking fuels to be 71% of the world population.

SDG #6 is to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”

Within SDG #6 are 8 targets, of which we here focus on Target 6.b:

Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management 

Target 6.b has one indicator:

• Indicator 6.b.1: Proportion of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management

The data for this target draws from UN Water’s Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS). The World Health Organization puts this assessment into effect.

We’re here looking at water at the local government level. A handy tool is the OECD’s Water Governance Indicator Framework to assess policies. This framework is part of the OECD’s water program, which advises governments on water policies. The OECD also has 12 Principles on Water Governance it recommends for governments.

As of 2019, 70% of countries had in place policies and procedures for community participation in water and sanitation.

SDG #6 is to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”

Within SDG #6 are 8 targets, of which we here focus on Target 6.a:

By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies

Target 6.a has one indicator:

• Indicator 6.a.1: Amount of water- and sanitation-related official development assistance that is part of a government-coordinated spending plan  

Using the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System, we can disaggregate development flows by type. In this instance, we want to separate out water aid. 

Let's look at ODA spent on water as part of a government’s budget. As of 2021, the biggest spender was India, with $420 million. Following was Vietnam and Cambodia, with $413 million and $309 million, then Bangladesh with $284 million and Egypt with $261 million.

SDG #6 is to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”

Within SDG #6 are 8 targets, of which we here focus on Target 6.5:

By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate

Target 6.5 has two indicators:

• Indicator 6.5.1: Degree of integrated water resources management 

• Indicator 6.5.2: Proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation 

What is integrated water resources management (IWRM)? In some ways, it’s reflective of the concept of sustainable development as it relates to water. It means to devise and put into effect a system which manages water resources with several considerations. It needs to consider the economic, social, and in particular the environmental aspects. At the governmental level, it can involve the coordination of several ministries. These might include the portfolios of water, planning, land, agriculture, and rural development.

Managing water resources is of utmost importance for the environment. But it also has large social, and economic implications in water scarce regions such as Western Asia and Africa. Every drop seems to count to ensure dignity and prosperity in these regions.

The Global Water Partnership, a network of over 3000 water organisations, and DHI, support such efforts. Managing water is relevant not only at the national level, but across countries within regions sharing a common border. It likewise has importance across administrative divisions within countries. 

This issue of water resources shared across borders brings us to Indicator 6.5.2. This is relevant whether a shared water body is visible on the surface, or groundwater in an aquifer. This topic seems ripe for conflict in water scare regions, and as such, competing interests need managing. International treaties between nations on the sustainable use of transboundary freshwater aid this. The most prominent example is the 1997 Water Convention.

The degree to which an integrated water resources management plan is in effect across all countries worldwide is 54% as of 2020. France and Singapore lead with 100% implementation. A half-dozen countries score 0, among them Argentina, Canada, and Venezuela.

41% of global aquifers have transboundary basins with arrangements to cooperate over water as of 2022. 65% of river and lake basins have such coverage, with 58% for both combined.

SDG #6 is to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”

Within SDG #6 are 8 targets, of which we here focus on Target 6.4:

By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity

Target 6.4 has two indicators:

• Indicator 6.4.1: Change in water-use efficiency over time

• Indicator 6.4.2: Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources 

It’s valuable to consider all the different activities which call upon water resources. These include the immense requirements of the primary industries of agriculture and resource extraction. Then there’s the secondary sectors of manufacturing, construction, plus the supply of power, as well as sewerage and waste treatment, as well as domestic water supply.

Water use efficiency is a measure in monetary terms, denominated in US dollars per cubic metre. At the country level, this means we take the GDP, and divide it by the number of cubic metres of freshwater withdrawn, to give us the water efficiency.

Worldwide, water efficiency in 2020 was $21 per cubic metre. Let's compare this figure for the best and worst performers among countries with data. The tiny country of Luxembourg had $1,379 per cubic metre  the most water efficient, and Madagascar was the worst with $0.91/m3.

We become at risk of water stress when we withdraw freshwater at a rate faster than it can renew, minus what the environment needs. As of 2020, there’s 42 billion cubic metres of renewable water in the world, with an annual freshwater withdrawal rate of 3.8 billion cubic metres. We can calculate this to tell us how water stressed a country is. First, we take the amount of freshwater withdrawn (measured in cubic metres). We then divide this by the total renewable freshwater, minus the environment requirements. After multiplying by 100, this gives us a percentage of water stress, which if greater than 75%, is high. Besides affecting our drinking water supply and economic sectors, this threatens food security.

Measured at the global level, the level of water stress is 18% as of 2020. This level hasn't changed since 2015, although the target has asked us to reduce those living with water scarcity. Several countries even have a critical water stress percentage greater than 100. This occurs when we withdraw freshwater at a greater rate than the renewable sources can replenish. These countries span the Sahara, across the Mideast into Central Asia. Kuwait’s water efficiency percentage is a stratospheric 3,850%, followed by 1,587% in UAE and 974% in Saudi Arabia. Not only has Kuwait not decreased its water scarcity, its doubled it since 2000.

SDG #6 is to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”

Within SDG #6 are 8 targets, of which we here focus on Target 6.3:

By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally

Target 6.3 has two indicators:

• Indicator 6.3.1: Proportion of domestic and industrial wastewater flows safely treated

• Indicator 6.3.2: Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality 

The proportion of treated domestic wastewater worldwide stands at 57% as of 2022. Very few countries have enough data to report treatment for industrial wastewater.

The global proportion of water bodies with good water quality stands at 71% as of 2020.

SDG #6 is to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”

Within SDG #6 are 8 targets, of which we here focus on Target 6.2:

By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations

Target 6.2 has one indicator:

• Indicator 6.2.1: Proportion of population using (a) safely managed sanitation services and (b) a handwashing facility with soap and water 

UNICEF and the World Health Organization have teamed up to report the progress on this issue under the banner of the JMP. This stands for the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

The worldwide proportion of people with access to sanitation facilities is 56% as of 2022 and 75% for handwashing facilities.

SDG #6 is to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”

Within SDG #6 are 8 targets, of which we here focus on Target 6.1:

By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all

Target 6.1 has one indicator:

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

SDG #6 introduces us to UN Water, coordinating the efforts of all the other UN agencies on the topic of water and sanitation. WHO’s guidelines inform the definition for drinking water quality. Access to safe water is essential to health and disease prevention and lowering the barriers to access is a human right.

The worldwide access to safe drinking water as of 2022 was 72%. Central African Republic had the lowest access among countries with data, with only 6%. Much of this gap is due to where one lives, whereby worldwide, 81% of the urban population have access, but only 62% for those living in rural locations.

SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.c:

Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels

Target 5.c has one indicator:

• Indicator 5.c.1: Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment 

Are governments of countries putting their money where their mouth is by putting gender equality and women’s empowerment in law? Are they allocating public finances to put such laws into effect? Are the finance ministries of governments held accountable by the populace to instil equality? Is there an office or ministry, given a budget to spend on such policies in favour of women? If it isn't budgeted for, can a government claim women’s development to be a priority?

As of 2021, the global proportion of countries with systems to track public expenditure on gender equality stands at 26%.

SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.b:

Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women

Target 5.b has one indicator:

• Indicator 5.b.1: Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex 

The definition for the purposes of measurement is access via a public switched telephone network.

As of 2022, 68% of women own a mobile phone in contrast to 77% of men. Among countries with data, all women in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE have mobiles, and only 11% of women in Burundi have access.

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.4:

Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with developed countries taking the lead 

Target 8.4 has two indicators:

• Indicator 8.4.1: Material Footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP

• Indicator 8.4.2: Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP 

Material footprint is a measure of the tonnage of natural resources extracted from the Earth. This includes metal ores, fossil fuels, minerals or living matter from plants and animals. Many of these are finite and non-renewable resources.

By contrast, the concept of domestic material consumption is a measure of materials used within a country’s economy.

It’s important we understand that the economy, which is the basis upon which we all prosper, itself rests upon an environment foundation. This begs the question how is the environment to cope as we live on a planet with a spiking increase in resource use? What is the pathway out of this pattern, to unlink economic growth from scarce resource use and extraction?

The world’s material footprint per capita was 12.44t as of 2019, the same figure as 2015. Thus, there has been no improvement on this indicator, as the target has asked of us. Indicator 8.4.1 asked us to measure by GDP as well as per capita. The world’s material footprint in 2019 was 1.14kg per US dollar, with not much of a change since 2015.

The domestic material consumption per capita for the world was 12 tonnes as of 2019, about the same since 2015. The target asked for developed countries to take the lead. As a proxy, we can use Europe and Northern America. This region had 18t of domestic material consumption in 2019, which has also remained the same since the start of the SDGs.

The global domestic material consumption is equal to 1.13kg per dollar. Once more, this is little changed from 2015, with a similar trend for Europe and Northern America.

SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.a:

Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws

Target 5.a has two indicators:

• Indicator 5.a.1: (a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure

• Indicator 5.a.2: Proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control

Indicator 5.a.1 stipulates to disaggregate the data for the indicator by type of tenure. These types include public, private, communal, indigenous, customary, and informal.

Among the countries with data as of 2022, most are developing countries. Cambodia leads with 88% of women having secure agricultural land rights and 54% of the share of agricultural landowners. Malawi has the largest share with 56%, with Pakistan the least among those with data at 6%.

Indicator 5.a.2 measures gender equality of land ownership rights enshrined in law. Among those countries with data, Ethiopia and Lithuania have the highest guarantees. The lowest guarantees in the legal frameworks for equal land ownership are in Lebanon and Mauritania.

SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.6:

Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences 

Target 5.6 has two indicators:

• Indicator 5.6.1: Proportion of women aged 15–49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care

• Indicator 5.6.2: Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education 

This target introduces us to the topics of population as it relates to women. This issue, as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights, is overseen at the UN level by the UNFPA (UN Population Fund). From this arises the question for women worldwide on who’s making the decision about their own healthcare. Do women have the choice to use contraceptives, and can they refuse sex with a partner if they don’t want to? The fertility rates are highest in these countries, yet so are the child mortality rates. Some families choose to have more children to compensate. Many women in such regions have choice deprived of them around their reproductive decisions. But development allows women to delay childbirth and reduces the child mortality and fertility rates. It's also easier to meet the existing population’s basic needs when there’s less mouths to share it with.

Target #5.6 mentions to International Conference on Population and Development. This 1994 UNFPA conference addressed the pressures of population, fertility, and development. The ICPD also highlighted the issue of women’s rights to their own decision-making on matters relating to sex and reproduction. 

This extends to the laws in effect in respective countries upholding such rights. These include matters of:

• Maternity care

• Contraception and family planning, including the topic of the morning after pill

• Sex education, including the teaching of consent

• HIV and HPV

• Abortion

• Consideration of the age children and adolescents can consent to their own medical treatment

• Child sexual exploitation

This target also mentions the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, mentioned already in this series in Target 5.1.

56% of women worldwide make their own informed decisions about sexual relations and contraceptive use. The lowest rates are in sub-Saharan Africa, where only 37% of women face such choices.

76% of countries have laws as of 2022 ensuring the right to access sexual and reproductive health care for both sexes.

SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.5:

Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life

Target 5.5 has two indicators:

• Indicator 5.5.1: Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments 

• Indicator 5.5.2: Proportion of women in managerial positions 

Indicator 5.5.1 introduces us to the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The IPU is independent of the UN, but the two work together. Indicator 5.5.1 is split into two levels of governance: national parliaments and local governments. For the countries with data, UN Women reports 3 million elected to local government. 

As of 2023, the global share of women in parliamentary seats is 26%, with the most in Rwanda, with 61%. For the same in local government, the global figure is 35%, the largest share being in Antigua and Barbuda.

Let's turn from positions of leadership in government to the world of work and the labour force for the second indicator for Target 5.5. We now measure what share of women have a managerial occupation. Of the countries with data, Jordan has the largest share of women in senior and middle management positions with 57%. The worldwide share of organisations with the top manager being female is 18%, with the greatest share of countries with data in Thailand (64%).

SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.4:

Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate 

Target 5.4 has one indicator:

• Indicator 5.4.1: Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location

Unemployed individuals, or those performing unpaid work, are seldom recognised for their contribution. They’re underutilised in the use of their time from an economic and social perspective. This has relevance when considering gender across the globe.

Many countries don’t have data for this indicator. Of the countries with data, the biggest disparity between the sexes in time spent on unpaid work is Mexico. In 2022, Mexican men spent 11% of their time each day on unpaid work, and women 27%. Indicator 5.4.1 asks of us to disaggregate the data by location. To separate Mexico’s 2019 data, 30% of the time of rural women was unpaid work compared to 26% for urban women. Rural men spent 10% of their time on unpaid work, and 11% for urban men in Mexico.

SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.3:

Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation 

Target 5.3 has two indicators:

• Indicator 5.3.1: Proportion of women aged 20–24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18

• Indicator 5.3.2: Proportion of girls and women aged 15–49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation, by age

The worldwide proportion of women married before age 15 was 4% as of 2022. We don’t have worldwide data for women married under age 18. But among countries with data, the highest rates were in Niger, where 76% of women married before 18.

Unpleasant as it may to be to discuss, imagine how much worse it could be to experience female genital mutilation. 230 million females experience this practice, often when girls are not yet adults.

UN agencies have collaborated to present the statement entitled Eliminating female genital mutilation. The statement approaches the topic from many perspectives:

• health

• human rights

• development

• social and cultural practices

• children’s rights

• women’s rights

• reproductive rights.

The countries with rates of female genital mutilation greater than 80% of the female population as of 2020 include:

• Mali

• Guinea

• Sierra Leone

• Egypt

• Sudan

• Eritrea

• Somalia (99% rate)

SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.2:

Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

Target 5.2 has two indicators:

• Indicator 5.2.1: Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age

• Indicator 5.2.2: Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence

This target focuses on violence against women and intimate partner violence. These are not only crimes in many countries, but violations of human rights agreed upon at the international level in the form of treaties. Looked at from a public health perspective, the threat it poses to the health of a population is of pandemic proportions. Let’s look at some of the forms countries enshrine and affirm this right. 

The most relevant to this topic is the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993. This violence can be physical, sexual, or psychological, whether or not committed by an intimate partner.

The same principles are also reflected in the following human rights agreements:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration is international law for those who signed and ratified via two treaties adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966:

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. All but 20 countries are states parties. Those who’ve not acted include South Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Bhutan, Malaysia, Myanmar, with China signing but not ratifying.

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In this instance the US is the main holdout from becoming a state party, having signed but not ratified. Saudi Arabia, the same Gulf states, Malaysia, and Myanmar again haven’t signed. Botswana, Mozambique and about 20 other smaller countries also haven't signed or ratified.

• In the previous target, we already looked at the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

• Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The General Assembly adopted this treaty in 1984. The largest country which isn't a state party is India, which has signed but not ratified. Other non-signatories are Bangladesh, Eswatini, Iran, Myanmar, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea and other smaller countries.

The advancement of women has been a focus of the UN since the UN Decade for Women from 1975-85. For 68 annual sessions, as of 2024, the UN Women’s Commission on the Status of Women has met to advance women’s empowerment and gender equality.

How prevalent is the crime of violence against women worldwide, across regions and countries? How do we know? Much violence against women occurs out of sight, behind closed doors. For this information, we can look to three main international sources. Several UN agencies work together to collate this data for measurement. 10% of women over 15-years-old worldwide experienced physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner in the past 12 months. The highest proportions were in Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan, both reporting above 30%.

SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”

Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on Target 5.1:

End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere

Target 5.1 has one indicator:

• Indicator 5.1.1: Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non‑discrimination on the basis of sex 

This target will introduce us to UN Women, the UN body charged with the task of achieving gender equality, one of the pillars of development. Many developing countries need help to meet this target's aim. The high-income countries of the OECD can help developing countries to promote such standards. This is because of the intrinsic tie between gender inequality and sustainable development.

What do countries need to put such legal frameworks into effect? Countries need to promote the adoption of laws affecting the life of women, then enforce and track them. Such laws need to cover the topics of violence against women. They also need to address employment, to ensure women enjoy economic benefits, and also marriage and family. 

What is the primary guiding principle in considering legal frameworks to end discrimination? Let's look to Article 1 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). It defines discrimination against women as:  

“...distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.”

The States Parties to the CEDAW are all countries except the US, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Palau (which is in free association with the US) and Tonga.

Another landmark guidance for intergovernmental progress in advancing gender equality occurred in Beijing. It's known as Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted in 1995 and affirmed five years later in Beijing in 2000.

Worldwide, as of 2022, 70% of countries have a legal framework addressing gender equality. 78% of countries have legal frameworks addressing violence against women as of 2022. 76% have legal frameworks addressing gender equality as it relates to employment and economic benefits. 79% of countries have legal frameworks addressing gender in relation to marriage and family. 

SDG #5 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.c:

By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States

Target 4.c has one indicator:

• Indicator 4.c.1: Proportion of teachers with the minimum required qualifications, by education level

As of 2019, the proportion of pre-primary teachers with the minimum required qualifications in the least developed countries (LDCs) was 63% and 72% in the small island developing countries (SIDS). For primary school teachers, the 2020 proportion was 79% for SIDS and 72% for LDCs and 86% worldwide. For each, the increase since 2015 was a couple percentage points. For lower secondary school in 2020, worldwide 83% of teachers had the minimum qualifications, 63% for LDCs and 75% for SIDS. For upper secondary in 2020, 89% of teachers in the SIDS had minimum qualifications, 85% worldwide, and 58% in LDCs.

SDG #4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.b:

By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries

Target 4.b has one indicator:

• Indicator 4.b.1: Volume of official development assistance flows for scholarships by sector and type of study

This indicator reintroduces us to the concept of official development assistance (ODA). Otherwise known as foreign aid, the high-income OECD countries bear the responsibility to donate ODA. These donor countries form the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to offer aid flows to the list of ODA recipients. This target focuses on ODA for scholarships to finance the development of education systems.

To track the progress for this target and indicator, let’s look at the development flows to the respective regions mentioned in the body of target 4.b. For African countries, as of 2021, ODA intended for scholarships was $US297 million, an increase from $US225 million from 2015. For developing countries, aid for scholarships in 2021 was $1.35 billion, down from $1.49 billion in 2015. For the least developed countries, 2021 scholarship aid was $221 million, down from $225 million in 2015. For the Small Islands Developing States, scholarship aid was $43 million in 2021, down from $104 million in 2015.

SDG #4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.a:

Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all

Target 4.a has one indicator:

• Indicator 4.a.1: Proportion of schools offering basic services, by type of service

Key to achieving this in the modern-day is access to information and communication technologies. ICTs allow even the remotest schools and children to access education systems. It even allows the possibility to access some of the best education institutions in the world. Schools need electricity to power the information and communication technologies. They also need an internet connection and computers for teaching and learning. Still, solutions to achieve this are available at low-cost.

The infrastructure of the learning environment also needs to adapt to be suitable for those with a disability. The learning materials need to factor in disabled students also.

School facilities also need basic facilities for drinking water, sanitation, and handwashing. 

Let's look at the worldwide progress toward this target and indicator. The proportion of schools offering the basic service of access to electricity as of 2020 was 90% in upper secondary, and 75% in primary. 80% of secondary schools offered access to handwashing facilities, and 76% of primary schools. 84% of secondary schools offered access to drinking water, and 75% of primary schools. 76% of upper secondary schools offered access to computers, and 46% of primary schools. The proportion of primary schools offering internet access for the purposes of teaching worldwide in 2022 was 39%. 89% of secondary schools offered single-sex toilets worldwide in 2020, and 76% of primary schools. 56% of secondary schools offered learning materials and infrastructure adapted to disabled students. This proportion was 47% for primary schools. 

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.3:

Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services

Target 8.3 has one indicator:

• Indicator 8.3.1: Proportion of informal employment in total employment, by sector and sex

Of the countries with data, many of the Least Developed Countries had greater than 80% of workers in non-agricultural informal work. The numbers are also high in the very populous countries India and Bangladesh, with 80% and 91% of workers in the informal sector. 

Much fewer countries have data for informal employment in the agriculture sector. This includes many of the countries with highest proportions of informality in non-agriculture. Developing countries with 2022 data had between 80-100% informal employment in agriculture.

The country with the greatest gender imbalance in the non-agricultural sector was Cote d'Ivoire. There, 79% of men were in informal employment and 93% of females. In agriculture, the biggest gender disparities among countries with data were in Europe. 31% of Serbian males compared to 68% of women were in informal employment, and 42% of males and 78% of women in Poland. 

SDG #4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.7:

By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development

Target 4.7 has one indicator:

• Indicator 4.7.1: Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment 

For us to have peace and sustainable development, we first need to educate ourselves on what sustainable development is. How we achieve it is the foundation for peace. The issues the SDGs place before are urgent. But we can take actions to foster sustainable development to keep at bay the most sudden and striking outcomes on our planet. Our world is interdependent, and whether we choose to be or not, we’re global citizens. 

But what does it mean to be a good global citizen? Like anything in life, to light the way, we need an education in global citizenship. In this way, we can go on to contribute, whatever our age, and this opportunity ought to inspire us all. Education to foster understanding across countries, as well as being a human right, opens a world of freedom for the learner.

The responsibility to put in place this right of citizens in each country lies with the relevant ministries of education. But we have an opportunity at the international level for member states to cooperate via UNESCO’s efforts. 

UNESCO has issued a recommendation document outlining how governments should foster such education. Recommendations are part of the legal jargon of UNESCO to set standards for member states to put into practice or law.

The results for this indicator are encouraging among the countries with data. We're measuring the extent of mainstreaming global citizenship and sustainable development education. The unit of measure is an index, where 0 is the worst and 1 the best. Most reporting countries record indexes greater than 0.8 for mainstreaming in national education. The results are similar for mainstreaming in curricula, teacher education and student assessment.

SDG #4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.6:

By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy 

Target 4.6 has one indicator:

• Indicator 4.6.1: Proportion of population in a given age group achieving at least a fixed level of proficiency in functional (a) literacy and (b) numeracy skills, by sex

This indicator introduces us to the concept of fixed level of proficiency. This is a standard of knowledge in a field of learning - in this instance, literacy and numeracy.

To survey the skills of adults, the OECD runs the PIAAC. This stands for Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. This program can assess adults in literacy and numeracy.

What are the worldwide literacy rates of people between 15-24 years old? As of 2020, disaggregated by sex as defined by the indicator, it's 93% for men and 90% for women, with only a fractional increase since 2015. 

The worldwide literacy rate for males over 15 was 90% in 2020, and 83% for females. But as of 2017, UNESCO has insufficient data across the countries to form a global numeracy rate disaggregated by sex.

SDG #4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.5:

By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations

Target 4.5 has one indicator:

• Indicator 4.5.1: Parity indices (female/male, rural/urban, bottom/top wealth quintile and others such as disability status, indigenous peoples and conflict-affected, as data become available) for all education indicators on this list that can be disaggregated

Whilst for this indicator, there isn’t one global parity index for gender equality, disability, and indigenous people. We do have some data for individual countries.

Those with a 2021 gender parity for primary completion lower than 0.8, meaning less 8 girls for every 10 boys, were Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan. The latter two had parities closer to 7 girls for every boy.

What about secondary completion? A half-dozen other countries in sub-Saharan Africa with 2021 data had parity rates across the sexes below 7 girls for every 10 boys. The lowest secondary completion gender parities were in Chad and Somalia, where 0.35 girls completed secondary per boy.

SDG #4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.4:

By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

Target 4.4 has one indicator:

• Indicator 4.4.1: Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill 

The mention of ICT’s introduces us to the UN agency specialising in this field, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

To measure these skills at the international level, in 2020, the ITU has issued a manual to measure access of individuals and households. This gives us 50 indicators for a variety of ICT skills, grouped into several categories. 

An example is being able to receive and send SMS. Another is using VoIP technologies to make voice calls and send messages over broadband internet.

It’s imperative across countries for individuals and households to have access to and use ICT’s. The world must progress toward greater connection. This is a reflection of the value of digital knowledge and the information societies we’ve become. In this way, telecommunication is key to development. The importance of ICT extends beyond the individual and household to education. It also offers opportunities for governments and enterprises, and the infrastructure for this needs to be there to begin with. 

SDG #4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.3:

By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university

Target 4.3 has one indicator:

• Indicator 4.3.1: Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months, by sex

The more training and education undertaken by a population, the greater the participation in the labour force, and for individuals to find employment and avoid unemployment and underemployment in working the number of hours one wishes to.

Worldwide, the enrolment rate for tertiary education as of 2022 was 41%, up from 36% in 2015, at the adoption of the SDGs.

SDG #4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.2:

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education

Target 4.2 has two indicators:

• Indicator 4.2.1: Proportion of children aged 24–59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex

• Indicator 4.2.2: Participation rate in organised learning (one year before the official primary entry age), by sex

The UN agency responsible for monitoring the first indicator for this target is UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), focused upon children. The indicator is served by UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development Index 2030, a tool to measure this indicator’s progress. The science underlying early childhood development has revealed it as a crucial intervention in the effective nurturing and care in a child’s overall development, and the SDGs present an opportunity to expand and implement such findings to the greatest possible scale.

Worldwide, as of 2022, only 69% of children aged 3 to 5 are on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being. 

The second indicator for this target looks at pre-school, defined according to UNESCO’s International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). The ISCED exists to provide uniformity across the different education structures and curricula across countries.

As of 2020, 74% of children at the age of one year before primary entry were enrolled in organised learning, about the same as 2015, at the adoption of the Global Goals. Disaggregated by sex, per the definition of the indicator, the enrolment of both sexes was at parity as of 2022.

SDG #4 is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Within SDG #4 are 10 targets, of which we here focus on Target 4.1:

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to a relevant and effective learning outcome.

Target 4.1 has two indicators:

• Indicator 4.1.1: Proportion of children and young people (a) in grade 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) Mathematics, by sex

• Indicator 4.1.2: Completion rate (primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education)

Indicator 4.1.1 looks at minimum proficiency levels. This is the benchmark of basic knowledge, as measured by assessments, in this instance, for reading and mathematics. This indicator looks at reading and maths skills at three points: grade 2 and 3, end of primary schooling, and end of lower secondary. Performance level descriptors describe the knowledge and skills demonstrated by students at each. Performance level descriptors help us to assess students across countries.

Let's look at the respective descriptors for each grade.

Reading, grade 2: Being able to read and comprehend familiar written words and extract explicit information from sentences.

Reading, grade 3: Read written words aloud, understanding the meaning of sentences and short texts and identifying the topic.

Maths, grades 2/3: To make sense of, calculate numbers, and recognise shapes.

Reading, end of primary: Interpreting and giving explanations about the main and secondary ideas in different texts and establishing connections between main ideas and their own experiences.

Maths, end of primary: Basic measurement and reading and creating graphs.

Reading, end of lower secondary schooling: Establishing connections of the author’s intentions and reflecting and drawing conclusions based on the text.

Maths, end of lower secondary school: Solving maths problems, using tables and graphs, as well as algebra.

The data for assessing trends in students draws from a half-dozen surveys, some run by UNICEF and UNESCO. UNESCO the UN’s agency focused on education. The purpose of these assessments is to survey the effectiveness of learning outcomes. In some countries, it’s possible for a student to pass through grades without meeting the minimum proficiency levels.

International large-scale assessments test educational outcomes. An example is PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) for reading literacy in grade 4 students.

There are also several large-scale learning assessments at the national and regional level. UNESCO’s office in Santiago houses the bureau focused on education in the Latin American and Caribbean region. This includes the LLECE, the Spanish acronym for the Latin American Laboratory for Evaluation of the Quality of Education. The LLECE runs the ERCE, the Spanish acronym for the Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study, a major large-scale learning assessment for the region.

Other examples of large-scale learning assessments at the regional level include: 

• SEACMEQ (Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality)

• Pacific Community’s Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment

• SEAMEO (Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization)

• PAL (People’s Action for Learning) Network 

The benefit of these surveys is they serve as tools to provide the evidence which then goes toward making decisions to improve education. This then serves those children not attaining the expected learning outcomes for their grade level.

As of 2019, the proportion of students worldwide at the end of primary education meeting minimum proficiency levels in reading was 58%. This was down 1% since the start of the SDG period in 2015. For maths at the same level, the worldwide share of minimum proficiency was 44%, and 50% for lower secondary in mathematics.

To coincide with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the UN released a report, titled Education 2030. The Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action accompanied the report. This declaration's name came from the South Korean city hosting UNESCO’s World Education Forum 2015 conference. Education 2030 is an effort of several UN agencies besides UNESCO, including the UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UN Women, the World Bank Group and ILO. The purposes of the report, as well as the Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action, reinforces the purpose of SDG #2.

The aim is to end Learning Poverty, which the World Bank defines as 10-year-olds being unable to read and understand a simple story.

The second indicator for this target looks at school completion of primary, lower secondary and upper secondary.

The completion rate for primary education worldwide was 87% as if 2021, up only 2% since 2015. Lower secondary completion rates were 77% in 2020, again up only 2% since 2015. Global upper secondary completion was 58% as of 2021, up 5% since 2015.

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.c:

Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries, especially in the least developed countries and small island developing states.

Target 3.c has one indicator:

•  Indicator 3.c.1: Health worker density and distribution

According to 2017 data, reflecting only two years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the number of medical doctors per 1,000 people in the world was 1.75. For the low-income countries, this number was 0.32 doctors for every thousand people, in contrast to 3.73 in high-income countries and 1.49 for middle-income countries.

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.b:

Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and non‑communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries, provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in accordance with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which affirms the right of developing countries to use to the full the provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights regarding flexibilities to protect public health, and, in particular, provide access to medicines for all.

Target 3.b has three indicators:

• Indicator 3.b.1: Proportion of the target population covered by all vaccines included in their national program.

• Indicator 3.b.2: Total net official development assistance (ODA) to medical research and basic health sectors.

• Indicator 3.b.3: Proportion of health facilities that have a core set of relevant essential medicines available and affordable on a sustainable basis.

First of all, what is the Doha Declaration, as mentioned in the body of the target. This refers to an agreement made in Doha, Qatar at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in 2001. The World Trade Organization is the world’s peak international organisation for international trade, and though it works alongside the UN, is independent of it. 

The focus of the declaration  for this target is on the TRIPS Agreement, an international treaty which stands for Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The TRIPS Agreement is an annex of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization, signed in the Moroccan city in 1994. One of the key relationships between the World Trade Organization and the UN in relation to the TRIPS Agreement is via the World Intellectual Property Organization, one of the UN specialised agencies

This Marrakesh Agreement was the result of the so-called Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, within the framework of another international treaty, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) designed to reduce or remove international trade barriers, tariffs and import quotas. 

In turn, the lengthy Uruguay Round of international trade negotiations, drawn out over 1986 to 1994, resulted in the establishment of the World Trade Organization to replace the GATT, with the Marrakesh Agreement acting as one of the WTO’s founding documents.

To turn back to the TRIPS Agreement, this WTO treaty relates to the enforcement of intellectual property rights worldwide, both for authors of creative works, and all manner of copyrights, patents and trademarks. 

The nature of the Doha Declaration is to recognise the importance of public health of developing countries, and least developed countries in particular, who are at the frontline of infectious epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. 

As it applies to the TRIPS Agreement, the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health makes it clear public health ought to take precedence over intellectual property, and though intellectual property rights is an important aspect of drug discovery, it should be balanced with the prices with which such medicines are made available in the poorest countries.

Within the definitions of our first official indicator for this target regarding vaccine coverage, we’re looking at the vaccines recommended by WHO and UNICEF, including two doses of measles, a full schedule of HPV, three doses of pertussis, and the toxoid vaccines of tetanus and diphtheria, whereby the toxins from bacteria are weakened. Also included is an immunisation for pneumococcal disease.

Looking at progress for this indicator, as of 2021, 81% of the one-year-olds worldwide have been immunised with the DPT vaccine, a 4% decrease since 2015, at the adoption of the SDGs. 71% of children worldwide had been vaccinated for measles as of 2021, up from 63% in 2015. 51% of one-year-olds had been vaccinated for pneumococcal disease in 2021, up from 38% in 2015. Worldwide, 12% of adolescent girls had been vaccinated for HPV as of 2021, up from 9% in 2015.

For the second indicator relating to ODA given to medical research and health, we can measure this via OECD data. Within the OECD is the DAC, or Development Assistance Committee, consisting of the high-income donor countries. Using this data, reported via the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System, we can see, for each donor, what amounts each year have been given of their total official development assistance flows to which sectors. In this instance, we want to see how many millions of US dollars have been given to the basic health sector and medical research.

Now is also an opportunity to look at the regions within which the World Health Organization divides its operations among its Member States, as the data for the final indicator is disaggregated into these regions to show access to essential medicines. These World Health Organization regions are:

• Africa

• PAHO (Pan American Health Organization)

• Southeast Asia

• Europe

• Eastern Mediterranean Region

• Western Pacific

These essential medicines are defined by the World Health Organization into the WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines, including the Essential Medicines for Children, selected by the World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines. The intention is for sufficient quantities of essential medicines to be available at health facilities for affordable prices, per the defined dosages. Such medicines can be out of reach of the daily wages of some living below national poverty lines, earning the lowest pay for unskilled work in the labour market.

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.a:

Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate

Target 3.a has one indicator:

• Indicator 3.a.1: Age-standardized prevalence of current tobacco use among persons aged 15 years and older

The World Health Organisation FCTC, or Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, is an international treaty overseen by the World Health Organisation, adopted in 2005 at the 56th World Health Assembly, which exists alongside the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, a treaty aiming to eliminate the illicit trade of tobacco. Another program within the WHO working toward raising awareness of tobacco’s threats and ways to reduce it’s use is the Tobacco Free Initiative.

In the West, we’re most  familiar with tobacco in the form of cigarettes, but let’s take a look around the world to see how different cultures adapt the plant from the nightshade family  belonging to the genus Nicotiana. According to the definitions of this target and its indicator, tobacco includes such applications as Indonesian kretek, which is blended with cloves, and snus, popular in Sweden and Norway, which is a form of dipping tobacco, placed between the lip and the gum, similar to naswar in Afghanistan, or toombak in Sudan. Dipping tobacco poses a threat of cancer of the mouth and throat.

Smokeless forms of tobacco go by many names throughout India and South Asia. One of these is gutkha, a combination of tobacco and calcium hydroxide; catechu, which is an extract from the tree Senegalia catechu; nuts from the areca palm tree; and leaves of the betel tree. Though smokeless, these products still pose a medical threat and can cause cancer. This preparation can also be made without tobacco, whereby it’s known as paan, or betel nut chewing, though still poses a cancer risk without the inclusion of tobacco.

The indigenous Yup’ik people of Alaska and Russian Far East use a smokeless tobacco product known as iq’mik, which poses a risk of heart disease, stroke and metabolic disorders such as diabetes and liver disease.

The FCTC reports on global progress to lower the trends of the prevalence of tobacco use. This data shows the global share of tobacco use is 22% as of 2020, not much further down than rate of 24% at the time of the SDGs adoption in 2015.

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.1:

Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries

Target 8.1 has one indicator:

• Indicator 8.1.1: Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita 

This target and indicator ask for us to aim for an increase of GDP, but also to keep pace with price rises from inflation, but also population growth. If GDP rises 7%, but so does the population growth, the actual rise in GDP cancels out. Likewise, if the GDP rises 7% but the inflation rate is 4%, then the GDP growth is only 3%.

The per capita annual growth rate for the world economy in 2022 was 2.28%, an increase from 1.86% in 2015, the year of the SDGs adoption. In the years following 2015, there was a dip in 2016 to 1.60%, followed by an increase in 2017, a tiny dip in 2018, a drop in 2019 to 1.51%, then a big drop in 2020 to -4.03%. 2021 saw a 5.31% rise, before an almost halving in 2022.

In 2022, the only Least Developed Countries with GDP growth rates above 7% was Niger with 7.43%

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.9:

By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination

Target 3.9 has three indicators:

• Indicator 3.9.1: Mortality rate attributed to the household (indoor) and ambient (outdoor) air pollution.

• Indicator 3.9.2: Mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, sanitation, and lack of hygiene.

• Indicator 3.9.3: Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisoning.

Exposure to PM2.5, or particulate matter of a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less, from both outdoors and household air pollution, poses great risks to health worldwide. Much of the culprit of household air pollution is due to the use of 2.4 billion people worldwide cooking using open fires or stoves burning biomass, kerosene or coal, resulting in an estimated 3 million annual deaths. The saddest facet of these deaths is such individuals simply wish to have access to energy, but the only form affordable and accessible to them compromise their air quality, and affect their health. 

The air in people’s home’s is killing millions, attributable to the burning of solid cooking fuels like wood, despite it being since the times of the earliest humans. Other fuels which put populations at risk in the home from burning are animal dung, charcoal, agricultural waste, and inefficient kerosene stoves.

Some of the causes of deaths which put populations at risk from long-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter can be caused by conditions affecting the blood flow and blood vessels in the brain, and problems due to narrowed arteries in the heart, which supply blood to the heart’s muscles. Such risks of the burdens of disease from exposure are due to behaviours, environments and occupations..

To help measure this, the World Health Organization’s Global Health Estimates are used, which separate deaths by country and cause.

Mortality from inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene is most observed in low- and middle-income countries, which we’ll explore in greater detail when looking at SDG #6 (Clean Water & Sanitation).

As of 2019, the global death rate from household and ambient air pollution stands at 104 per 100,000 people; 18 deaths per 100,000 from unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene, and 1 death from unintentional poisoning per 100,000.

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.8:

Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all

Target 3.8 has two indicators:

• Indicator 3.8.1: Coverage of essential health services.

• Indicator 3.8.2: Proportion of population with large household expenditures on health as a share of total household expenditure or income

Because of the inherent inequality of extreme poverty, of which 712 million people live below $2.15 a day as of 2022, those living in such destitution are often excluded from healthcare coverage. Instead, the international community needs to finance healthcare services of those countries unable to use their own resources, and protect the most vulnerable from what could be devastating costs.

According to the World Health Organisation, the measure of coverage for essential health services includes 14 indicators for:

• Family planning

• Pregnancy care

• Child immunisation

• Treatment of children

• Tuberculosis

• HIV/AIDS

• Malaria

• Water, sanitation and hygiene

• Hypertension

• Diabetes

• Tobacco

• Hospital access

• Health workforce

• Health security

These respective indicators form an aggregate index of coverage of essential health services, on a scale of 0 to 100, the measure used for indicator 3.8.1.

The second indicator for this target measures the proportion of household income spent on healthcare, using a method used by the UN called Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP), which categorises the purpose of household expenditure, including health care goods and services.

By this measure, two thresholds are used to measure financial hardship, the lower one for 10% of household income spent on healthcare, and the higher threshold for a quarter of household income spent on healthcare.

For the purposes of Indicator 3.8.2, this measure is used at a population level to measure the percentage of people meeting either the lower or higher thresholds of 10 or 25% household income spent on healthcare, placing them at financial risk to pay for their healthcare needs. 

As of 2021, the world result for the index of coverage of essential health services stands at 67 out of a score of 100, still far from the 2030 goal of universal health coverage, the aim of SDG #3 overall.

As of 2019, the share of the world population with more than a quarter of household expenditure spent on health stands at 3%.

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.7:

By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programs

Target 3.7 has two indicators:

• Indicator 3.7.1: Percentage of married women ages 15–49 years whose need for family planning is satisfied with modern methods of contraception.

• Indicator 3.7.2: Adolescent birth rate (aged 10–14 years; aged 15–19 years) per 1,000 women in that age group.

This target links both to Target 3.8, which we’ll look at next, relating to universal healthcare coverage, as well as Target 5.6, under the gender equality Goal for universal sexual and reproductive health.

The UN agency overseeing sexual and reproductive health is the UNFPA, otherwise known as the UN Population Fund, as well as the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

To help meet the rights to access affordable and quality sexual and reproductive health services and information, the World Health Organisation has published a Family Planning guidance handbook for use by health care professionals about providing contraceptive methods and services in low- and middle-income countries, including for those adolescent and women at high risk of the HIV epidemic.

One example of a method profiled in the Family Planning handbook is the mini-pill, also known as norethindrone, a birth-control pill belonging to the class of medications called progestins, which are synthetic compounds which act like the steroid hormone made by the body called progesterone to maintain pregnancy and prevents further ovulation. 

The consequences of failing to acknowledge the unmet demand for contraceptives in the least developed countries put these regions at further risk of food insecurity due to the population explosion it invites, which will require even greater levels of foreign aid to feed more mouths. 

The phenomenon by which fertility rates are reduced in the least developed countries, in turn slowing down the rapid rise of populations, is known as the ‘demographic transition’. Meeting family planning and contraceptive needs is a key pillar of this transition in countries which already often lack healthcare coverage, and are characterised by high maternal and child mortality rates, sometimes also accompanied by high HIV rates. 

This brings us to the second indicator for this target, regarding adolescent birth rates. The global agenda for this intersection of population and development is epitomised in the Programme of Action, adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994.

One of challenges of measuring the ages of mothers giving birth in the regions experiencing the highest rates of adolescent fertility rates are they’re sometimes out of reach of civil registration of live births.

As of 2023, 77% of the share of women throughout the world’s family planning needs were met, still short of the universal access objective of target #3.7. 

The adolescent birth rate, as of 2023, is 1.5 births per 1,000 to 10-14-year-olds worldwide.

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.4:

By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.3:

By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.

Target 3.3 has five indicators:

• Indicator 3.3.1: Number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population

• Indicator 3.3.2: Tuberculosis per 100,000 population

• Indicator 3.3.3: Malaria incidence per 1,000 population

• Indicator 3.3.4: Hepatitis B incidence per 100,000 population

• Indicator 3.3.5: Number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical disease 

Looking first at HIV/AIDS, this infection is caused by a type of retrovirus characterised by its ability to survive inside its hosts for long incubation periods. The nature of retroviruses is they copy their RNA into the DNA of a host, thus changing the genome.  

The UN agency overseeing the HIV/AIDS pandemic is the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS for short, and is a joint effort of several UN agencies. 1.5 million people contract AIDS per year, resulting in 680,000 deaths in the latest year of data, with 38 million people living with the virus. A High-Level Meeting on AIDS declared the UN’s intent to end AIDS by 2030, in alignment with SDG Target #3.3. However another major pandemic, COVID-19, has slowed progress, with a current global rate of 0.19 new HIV infections per 1000 uninfected people, short of the 2030 goal for elimination of HIV. 

Turning next to tuberculosis, this is caused by infection of a pathogenic bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, transmitted between people via respiratory means. The bacteria causes 10.6 million people a year to fall ill, killing 1.6 million people in 2021. 

Within the World Health Organisation, the Global Tuberculosis Programme works toward ridding the world of TB from its current world level of an incidence of 127 TB cases per population of 100,000, down from 142 per 100,000 in 2015 at the start of the SDG period, and 174 in 2000, at the beginning of the MDG period. This was encapsulated in MDG #6 to “combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases”, and which aimed to halve the incidence of AIDS, malaria and TB by 2015, and reverse their incidence.

The world benefits from efforts such as the End TB Transmission Initiative, as part of the Stop TB Partnership, administered by the UN. Other impressive organisations in the fight against TB as well as AIDS, which are often co-morbidities alongside one another, include the The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Unitaid and IFFIm, in partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

One of the main strategies the WHO endorses for combating TB is DOTS, which stands for directly-observed treatment, short course, whereby a healthcare worker watches the patient take their dose. Immunisation with a TB vaccine is a widespread method of prevention. However, hampering global efforts to control and prevent TB are strains of TB resistant to drugs developed to treat the disease.

Alongside AIDS and TB, in 2020 there were 241 million cases malaria, resulting in 627,000 deaths. The mosquito-borne disease affects Africa to a disproportionate level, where it’s home to almost all cases and deaths. In the effort to end the malaria pandemic, the world is still shy of the mark, with an incidence of 59 new cases per 1,000 of the global population.

The following indicator focuses upon hepatitis B. Hepatitis is a disease characterised by inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis B is a viral type of hepatitis, caused by infection of the hepatitis B virus. Immunisations are an effective tool deployed worldwide to prevent the spread of the hepatitis B virus. The world isn’t too far away from eliminating this disease, with less than 1% of children under-5 worldwide testing positive for an active case of hepatitis B.

For the final indicator of this target, we look to neglected tropical diseases, which are infectious diseases common to developing countries in the tropics and subtropics of Africa, Asia and the Americas. So what are these neglected tropical diseases we’re aiming to control by 2030?

These include about 20 infectious diseases, so let’s parse through some which may be less than household names, many of which are water-borne diseases:

• Lymphatic filariasis is caused by parasitic worms, microscopic in size, affecting the lymphatic system.

• Schistosomiasis is another infection caused by parasitic worms

• Soil-transmitted helminthiasis is a disease caused by another parasitic worm, in this case observable to the human eye, infecting the intestines, and transmissible via soil contaminated by these type of worms called helminths

• Onchocerciasis, a disease of the eyes and skin, also caused by a worm

• Buruli ulcer, an infection of the skin caused by a type of bacteria

• Chagas disease, transmitted via a bug carrying a parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi

• African sleeping sickness, also known as human African Trypanosomiasis, is similar to Chagas. Both are due to parasites belonging to the genus Trypanosoma, in this instance the species Trypanosoma brucei.

• Leishmaniasis, a parasite spread by sandflies

• Mycetoma, a bacterial and fungal infection, spread by the skin’s exposure to soil or water containing the bacteria or fungus causing this disease

• Yaws, a chronic skin infection, resulting in small lumps and ulcers on the skin

• Dracunculiasis, caused by the worm-like parasite species Dracunculus medinensis, also known as Guinea worm, so named because of the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, where it was once prevalent.

• Echinococcosis, caused by parasitic worms of the genus Echinocococcus. 

Also included among the neglected tropical diseases, is snake envenoming, caused by the toxins from a snakebite.

Various medications treating infection by some of the aforementioned parasitic worms include diethylcarbamazine, albendazole, mebendazole and praziquantel.

One of the preventive strategies endorsed by the WHO for some of the neglected tropical diseases caused by helminth worms is preventive chemotherapy, which is the safe administration of a medicine to a whole population susceptible to infection by these worms.

Progress made in lowering the number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical disease has been slight over the span of the SDG period, down only 60 million since 2015 to its current total of 1.73 billion.

As with all SDG #3 targets, the provision of universal health care is a catch-all solution to almost all facets of achieving health and well-being for all, including ending the epidemics at the core of Target #3.3. 

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.2:

By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births

Target 3.2 has two indicators:

• Indicator 3.2.1: Under‑5 mortality rate

• Indicator 3.2.2: Neonatal mortality rate

The under-5 mortality rate measures the number of child deaths occurring in a given population for those under the age of 5, whereas the neonatal mortality rate measures the number of infant deaths in a population.

Both indicators measure within a population for every 1000 live births, therefore excluding fetuses which did not survive the perinatal period. The definition of neonates, or newborns, for the purposes of Indicator 3.2.2 is within the first 28 days of birth, after which, the death of a child older than 28 days, but less than 5-year-old, would fit into the definition of Indicator 3.2.1

Data used for these measures is reported by UNICEF, the UN agency for aid for children. The source of data and estimates for child mortality and stillbirth estimates is collected by United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME), led by UNICEF, but supported by the WHO, the World Bank and the UN Population Division. The data is collected from a combination of deaths registered by the relevant civil bodies in a country, as well as census data and household surveys of full birth history. A full birth history is a list of all children a woman has given birth to, including their date of birth, sex, whether the child survived, the child’s age, if they’re still alive, or the age of death if they died. Another measure, summary birth history, only asks mothers for the number of children ever born and the number who died. Adjustments are made in calculating the mortality rate in areas with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, as mothers who’ve died from AIDS are unable to report on the mortality of their children.

As of 2020, the child mortality rate for the world is 36.6 deaths per 1000 live births, down from 42.6 in 2015, the adoption year of the SDGs, and from 93.2 in 1990, yet still short of the 2030 target of 25 deaths of children under-5 per 1000 live births.

For the neonatal mortality rate, with an aim of 12 neonatal deaths per 1000 live births by 2030, the 2020 neonatal rate is 17, down from 19.3 in 2015, and 36.7 in 1990.

SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.1:

By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.

Target 3.1 has two indicators:

• Indicator 3.1.1: Maternal mortality ratio

• Indicator 3.1.2: Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

The causes of maternal death are manifold. Many of the deaths relate to complications of the cardiovascular system of the blood vessels and the heart. These include postpartum bleeding, which can be treated with intravenous blood transfusion in countries and communities where healthcare coverage is sufficient to offer this. 

Mothers can experience high blood pressure in their arteries as a result of the pregnancy, in some instances identified by proteinuria, an abundance of proteins found in the urine. High blood pressure accompanied by proteinuria may indicate a form of high blood pressure related to pregnancy known as pre-eclampsia.

Strokes are possible, whereby blood flow is unable to reach the brain in sufficient amounts, leading to the death of cells. Likewise, embolisms can form in the pulmonary artery, impeding the heart from sending blood toward the lungs.

Other reasons can include obstructed labour and unsafe abortions.

In countries with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, this is the leading cause of death during pregnancy and postpartum. 

Relevant to this, those countries with low GDP per capita are more likely to have less healthcare coverage, making poverty an obvious risk factor for maternal mortality. Another risk factor related to this is the fertility rate, reflecting a phenomenon whereby the birth rates of poor countries are higher because of the poverty trap. When compounded by low health care coverage in these countries, a high fertility rate, low levels of income and low health care coverage form a recipe for high maternal mortality rates.

In terms of prevention of maternal deaths, complications in the term of a pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period can be mitigated by the presence of skilled birth attendants, in communities where doctors specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology are absent.

Other worthwhile preventions are family planning methods and birth control, to prevent unwanted pregnancies putting a potential mother at risk of death.

Prenatal care can also act as a form of preventive healthcare

Healthcare coverage also tends to ensure an aseptic medical environment, free of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites which cause septic infections in tissues from these pathogens

Complementing the existence of health care coverage are public health campaigns, which can promote preventive behaviours and mitigate the risks of maternal death.

The Millenium Development Goals, the UN goals which preceded the SDGs, had an entire goal devoted to maternal health. Millenium Development Goal #5 set the objective to improve maternal health. Target #5A of the MDGs corresponds with the SDG target we’re looking at here, focused upon the maternal mortality ratio. Target #5A was to “Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio”

In setting a global standard for diagnosing health issues, the World Health Organisation classifies diseases according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). According to this classification, maternal death is defined as deaths occurring whilst a mother is pregnant, or within 42 days following the termination of the pregnancy. 

The most recent global data for maternal mortality ratio is from 2017, 211 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, down only a little from the 2015 baseline of 219 per 100,000, and 342 per 100,000 from the start of the MDG period in 2000. To reach this target’s objective, we need to reduce this down to 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. 

To offer an example of a country which is on has achieved this target, and is on track to achieve SDG #3 overall, Australia had a maternal mortality ratio in 2020 of 5.5 deaths per 100,000, or the equivalent of 16 maternal deaths.

The proportion of births attended by skilled health attendants worldwide is 80% as of 2018, up from 62% in 2000.

SDG #2 is to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”

Within SDG #2 are eight targets, of which we here focus on Target 2.c:

Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility.

Target 2.c has a singular indicator:

• Indicator 2.c.1: indicator of food price anomalies.

An indicator of food price anomalies is a measure of market prices which deviate much higher-than-normal prices. One of the means to measure this is via a consumer price index, or CPI. A CPI is a statistic measuring the inflation experienced by households, or the price changes of household expenditure. Within this, different categories of household expenditure can be broken down from the total, such as food expenditure. 

At the international level, FAOSTAT, the statistical body of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) collects this data. 

This responsibility is a function of Article I of the FAO Constitution, which calls on the FAO to “collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information relating to nutrition, food and agriculture.”

The FAO uses the FPMA, or Food Price Monitoring and Analysis, a tool which holds information and analyses of consumer prices of basic foodstuffs over the years across developing countries. Thanks to such tools and data, this evidence can be used to help make political decisions about food and agriculture at the national and international level.

SDG #8 is to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

Within SDG #8 are 12 targets, of which we here focus on Target 8.1:

Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries

Target 8.1 has one indicator:

• Indicator 8.1.1: Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita 

This target and indicator ask for us to aim for an increase of GDP, but also to keep pace with price rises from inflation, but also population growth. If GDP rises 7%, but so does the population growth, the actual rise in GDP cancels out. Likewise, if the GDP rises 7% but the inflation rate is 4%, then the GDP growth is only 3%.

The per capita annual growth rate for the world economy in 2022 was 2.28%, an increase from 1.86% in 2015, the year of the SDGs adoption. In the years following 2015, there was a dip in 2016 to 1.60%, followed by an increase in 2017, a tiny dip in 2018, a drop in 2019 to 1.51%, then a big drop in 2020 to -4.03%. 2021 saw a 5.31% rise, before an almost halving in 2022.

In 2022, the only Least Developed Countries with GDP growth rates above 7% was Niger with 7.43%

SDG #2 is to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”

Within SDG #2 are eight targets, of which we here focus on Target 2.b, which is:

Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round.

Target 2.b has a singular indicator: 

• Indicator 2.b.1: agricultural export subsidies. 

First of all, what is the Doha Development Round? 

The Doha Development Round is a so-called round of negotiations within the World Trade Organisation, which began in 2001 at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, the capital of Qatar, focused on the topic of lowering barriers to international trade. Whilst the WTO is an intergovernmental organisation, it is not part of the UN System. 

WTO Ministerial Conferences were subsequently held in Cancun and Hong Kong, but the contentions hindering agreement between developed and developing countries, particularly around agriculture subsidies paid by governments to agribusinesses, has been a relative constant, and is currently at an impasse.

Trade in goods and services between countries is generally considered a good thing. But when countries adopt protectionist economic policies such as taxes on imports or exports, import quotas, or any other hindrance at customs, other countries may consider such policies to put themselves at a relative trade disadvantage, in terms of the effect such policies could have on farmers and consumers in their own country.

Not all countries are members of the WTO, though 164 of the UN Member States are WTO Members. Largely, the organisation exists with the purpose of members collectively lowering tariffs and trade barriers, for both goods, as well as services and intellectual property, as well as setting out the procedures for settling disputes, whilst allowing for special treatment for developing countries. 

An important WTO treaty in the context of Target 2.b is the Agreement on Agriculture. This brings up another round of international trade negotiation, this one known as the Uruguay Round, under the aegis of the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade, the forebear of the WTO.

The culmination of the Uruguay Round was the Marrakesh Agreement in Morocco, which established the WTO itself, as well as the Agreement on Agriculture was signed in April 1994.

It’s common for countries to support their domestic agriculture sectors, including subsidies for agricultural goods to be exported. In the jargon of Article 1 of the Agreement on Agriculture, this support is measured using the term the “Aggregate Measurement of Support”, for the annual monetary outlay in favour of an agricultural product. The idea is any support of income or price which boosts exports, or limits imports from another country, in a free trade environment, other countries are going to want to know why such support for the given product was necessary if they’re not to do likewise in their own countries. 

By definition of the WTO’s Subsidies Agreement, subsidies are any benefits conferred by government in the forms of transferring funds or guaranteeing loans, tax credits, providing goods or services outside of infrastructure, or otherwise purchasing goods, as well as financing a body outside of government to emulate the aforementioned functions. Per the Subsidies Agreement, WTO members are not to use subsidies causing adverse effects to other members, in the form of “injury to the domestic industry of another member”, or “causing serious prejudice to their interests of another Member”. Under Article 6 of the Subsidies Agreement, this is deemed as subsidisation greater than 5% of its value, debt forgiveness, and covering losses of an industry or a business, with the exception of once-off instances.

Measuring the target of eliminating agricultural export subsidies by 2030, using data from the WTO, the world has reduced this amount to the equivalent of $58 million as of 2019, down from $217 million at the adoption the SDGs in 2015, and a height of $6.69 billion in 1999.

SDG #2 is to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”

Within SDG #2 are eight targets, of which we’ll here focus on Target 2.a, which is:

Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries

Within target 2.a are two indicators:

• Indicator 2.a.1: The agriculture orientation index for government expenditures.

• Indicator 2.a.2: Total official flows (official development assistance plus other official flows) to the agriculture sector.

Investment in general is central to the SDGs, with the implication monetary or other value is allocated with the incentive of a future return, suggesting the intergenerational aspect of the concept of sustainable development.

For the world’s most vulnerable, it’s a far stretch for most of our imaginations to suspend the ubiquity of money and finance in our daily lives to consider the lives of those tilling the soil for subsistence, far-flung from markets. For these people in such communities, the importance of their assets used for their livelihood, and the appreciation of such capital, can be life or death. Whilst in the developed world, talk of investment may bring to mind corporate profits dispensed as dividends to shareholders, for small-scale farmers, investment can mean a hand on the bottom rung of the development ladder out of penury.

But government investment in agriculture needn’t necessarily be financial. It can come in the form of investments in physical capital, such as infrastructure. For a small-scale farmer in the developing world to participate in the economy, they must be connected with markets. If the farmer lives isolated from towns and cities to reach markets, they require roads and railways. To figure out if making the trip to market is worth the bother depending on prices they can fetch, they can save themselves travelling with access to telecommunications, and electric grids to power them. The importance of rural development also ties in with SDG #9 for Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

Aside from investing in physical capital, governments can invest in human capital, via education among other means. Amid the context of this goal, this means educating farmers, a practice known as agricultural extension. Cutting-edge techniques, skills and tools, and the fruit of science and knowledge can be imparted to farmers to better their yield and income, and more efficiently use inputs. The agricultural revolution was humanity’s first wave of technology after all, but in the modern era, its practice can still benefit from the internet and telecommunications to better participate in the global economy, and to better manage the environment.

Also of importance are gene banks, where specimens of DNA are kept in repositories. A type of gene bank for plants are seed banks, where seeds are kept as a means of protecting genetic biodiversity in agriculture. For animals, sperm and egg cells of species are kept frozen.

For much of the developing world working in the agriculture sector, shocks from exchange rates from distant lands, fickle to the impact upon developing country food prices, can ruin lives and livelihoods. These reasons make the importance of governments acting as public investors for their own agriculture sector all the more important, as what financial profit can a private investor expect to make upon an agricultural sector in a given country which is barely productive? This would be too risky for the investor, for the smallholder would be too likely to default on any financing received.

Therefore, low-income governments need an investment strategy for agricultural development due to its centrality to rural development and poverty alleviation, and as we’ll see, statistics are central to its successful implementation.    

Looking closer at Indicator 2.a.1, the Agriculture Orientation Index (AOI) for Government Expenditures is defined as the portion of government spending toward agriculture, per the Classification of the Functions of Government, divided by agriculture’s contribution to the value-added share of a country’s GDP, according to the UN’s System of National Accounts. According to this definition, ‘agriculture’ includes the forestry, fishing and hunting sectors, per Section A of the UN’s International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), the classification of all economic activities. Also, according to this definition, government spending is considered to be all expenditure, as well as acquiring non-financial assets in support of the agricultural sector. The data to measure this indicator on government spending is collected by an annual questionnaire by the FAO, whilst the data on value-added agricultural output originates from national accounts.

Included in government spending on agriculture for the purposes of this indicator includes policies and programs on soil improvement and mitigating soil degradation, managing animal health, research on livestock and animal husbandry; research on marine and freshwater biology, and afforestation and forestry. This spending increases the agricultural sector’s productivity and income growth, as well as increasing capital, both human and physical. The public sector is able to fill this void, commonly receiving less investment than the private sector, with the markets failing to provide for income redistribution. 

For Indicator 2.a.2, we return to the topic of ODA, which we explored in the video for Target 1.a. The wording of Indicator 2.a.2 also mentions ‘other official flows’, which in the jargon of the OECD are official transactions not meeting the criteria of ODA, either because they’re not aimed at financing sustainable development, or are not concessional.

The OECD’s Development Assistance Committee identifies what specific sectors a transfer to a recipient is intended to foster, with transfers for this indicator targeted to the purposes of the agricultural sector. The OECD maintains all this information in its Creditor Reporting System, to compare where aid from DAC member countries has gone, the purpose the donor intended to serve, and which policies were used to implement such intentions.

SDG #2 is to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”

Within SDG #2 are eight targets, of which we’ll here focus on Target 2.5: 

By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed.

Within target 2.5 are two indicators:

• Indicator 2.5.1: Number of (a) plant and (b) animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium- or long-term conservation facilities.

• Indicator 2.5.2: Proportion of local breeds classified as being at risk of extinction.

The UN agency overseeing the topic of genetic resources for food and agriculture is the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. 

Much of this conservation occurs in gene banks, which are biological repositories of the DNA and RNA of life forms, which exist to maintain the diversity of genes of various lifeforms. One of the reasons for this is because biodiversity - explored in greater depth in Goals #14 and 15 - is necessary for food security, in line with the aims of Goal #2 to end hunger and ensure sustainable agriculture.

Genebanks maintain such samples outside their natural environment (or ex situ) rather than protected or managed on the farm (in situ). The FAO maintains two systems to help account for the genes maintained by gene banks, each system pertaining to the respective use of animals and plants for food and agriculture: the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS) and the WIEWS (World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture).

The management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture is guided by International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, a global treaty aiming to ensure food security, nature conservation, and the sustainability of plant genetic resources. This treaty is implemented via the Second Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, adopted by the FAO in 2011.

The corresponding agreement for animal genetic resources for food and agriculture is the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources, adopted by the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2007, as well as the Convention on Biological Diversity.

SDG #2 is to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”

Within SDG #2 are eight targets, of which we here focus on Target 2.4, which is:

By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.”

Within target 2.4 is a sole indicator:

• Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture.

We touched on the importance of the future of sustainable agriculture in an earlier SDG #2 target. It’s a complex issue, and very much sensitive to the varied unique agro-ecologies the world over.

Sustainable agriculture seeks to meet the challenges of scarce freshwater resources, erosion, surface runoff, salinisation, imbalances in the environmental cycles of nitrogen, phosphate and carbon, slash-and-burn practices clearing forests, using advanced techniques of irrigation and water efficiency, crop rotation.

Whilst not at scale, the practices of urban agriculture emphasise local food like roof gardens, community gardens, sharing gardens. Other concepts of importance include organic farming using natural manures and other techniques in contrast to synthetic fertilisers. Regenerative agriculture is another field receiving more attention recently for its emphasis on protecting biodiversity and ecosystems, a philosophy shared with the discipline of permaculture. 

Standards and certification have also made recognising food grown sustainably easier for consumers, such as organic certification, the Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade certification.

At a political level, the European Commission’s European Green Deal sets forth to make European food systems sustainable, whilst the US Department of Agriculture has historically been a driver of intensified agriculture, with attendant ills for human diet and ecological damage.

Sustainable food systems don’t just encompass how food is produced, but its distribution, with local food being environmentally better, as well as benefitting the sustainability of our diets and food loss and waste

In acknowledging the importance of agriculture’s relationship with ecosystems, climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, we see SDG #2’s interplay with Goal’s 13 through 15 - all topics we’ll examine further in the targets within those respective goals.

Without agriculture our civilisation never could have reached the levels of population size nor prosperity many of us experience. Advances in agronomy have proffered more food, fuel and fibre for humankind. Examples are agrochemicals, pesticides to keep pests away from crops, fertilisers to provide plants the chemical nutrients they need to grow.

Yet agricultural practices do not come without an environmental impact. The welfare of animals beside humans is largely neglected or ignored. Agriculture has been, and continues to be a major drive of climate change, the practice itself in its current form a large greenhouse gas emitter. 

The importance of forests to heading off climate change is widely understood, yet deforestation still occurs on a massive scale for the purposes of creating pasture for grazing.

Can our aquifers, which sustain our vital freshwater supplies contend with what agriculture draws from it, and pollutes it with? Will the degradation imposed on the land put us at greater risk of desertification, turning once healthy soil mixtures, supporting life itself, into drylands. 

Can the environment handle what we take from it and feed into it, or are we risking the depletion of resources necessary for human survival? Are we risking the compromise of the quality of our air, water and soil - even entire ecosystems? Do our patterns put at peril the destruction of habitats, the extinction of species of wildlife, biodiversity loss and pollution at large? Is the production of animal feed for livestock an inefficient use of precious resources?

Have we placed ourselves higher on the food chain than is necessary to live healthy lives? Do we need to slaughter cattle, pigs and sheep? Do we need products from the milk of cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep? Do we need textiles derived from sheep, cashmere and mohair from goats and animal skins for clothing? 

Both humans and animals are affected by the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and genetically engineered lifeforms in the meat and dairy industry.

We humans need fuel to work; raw materials to turn goods into products; grains, vegetables and oils for cooking.

Yet our policies around agriculture need to change, and we need to harness the science and economics of agriculture to be sustainable.