SDG Index 2023: Bangladesh ahead of India, Pakistan

Bangladesh has ranked 101st on the Sustainable Development Report 2023, with an overall score of 65.9 out of 100.

In this year's index, Bangladesh is ahead of India (112th), Pakistan (128th), and Afghanistan (158th) in South Asia.

The Sustainable Development Report 2023 including the SDG Index and Dashboards, which was released on Wednesday, is a complement to the official SDG indicators and the voluntary national reviews, published by the Dublin University Press.

Infographic: TBS

The report assesses the progress of all of the 193 UN Member States towards the SDGs. 
 
Status of SDG targets for Bangladesh
 
Around 30.9% of the SDG targets for Bangladesh have been achieved or on track, 41.2% have limited progress, and 27.9% have been worsening.
 
The SDG dashboard highlighted that out of 17 development goals, Bangladesh is on track or maintaining SDG achievements for only two goals – Quality education (SDG 4), and Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12). 
 
Besides, the country has been moderately improving with respect to achieving six goals: no poverty (SDG 1), zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and well-being (SDG 3), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), and industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9). 
 
Bangladesh is moderately improving in these six indicators, but they are not sufficient as there are major challenges in achieving these goals.
 
The SDG dashboard indicates that Bangladesh has already achieved two goals – responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), and climate action (SDG 13). 
 
Although the country has achieved the climate action goal, it has been tagged to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
 
Sadly, the country is stagnant in its position for four goals, and moving backward with respect to three goals, according to the report. 
 
There are major challenges in achieving the targets related to life below water (SDG14), life on land (SDG15), and peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG16), reflected by the decreasing scores in these indicators.
 
There is no data about one of the goals – reduced inequalities (SDG 10) – for Bangladesh and overall 2% of data is missing in the SDG Index. 
 
Spillover Index
 
The report also published a spillover index, which indicates transboundary impacts generated by one country on others. 
 
Bangladesh ranked 46th with a score of 97.8 on the Spillover Index, indicating the country has significantly more positive and fewer negative impacts on other countries in achieving their sustainable development goals.
 
The Spillover Index assesses such spillovers along three dimensions: environmental and social impacts embodied in trade, economy and finance, and security. 
 
Global situation
 
Globally, Finland topped the SDG Index by replacing Sweden. Denmark ranked third, followed by Germany and Austria. 
 
South Sudan, Central African Republic, and Chad are the bottom three countries.
 

All of the SDGs are seriously off track.
 
From 2015 to 2019, the world made some progress on the SDGs, although this was already vastly insufficient to achieve the goals. Since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 and other simultaneous crises, SDG progress has stalled globally.
 
The disruptions caused by these multiple crises have aggravated fiscal-space issues in low-income countries and in lower-middle income countries, leading to a reversal in progress on several goals and indicators.
 
"Despite this alarming development, the SDGs are still achievable. None of their objectives are beyond our reach," said the report.