How lack of data makes it difficult to measure SDG progress

We are now seven years away from the deadline for reaching 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)s set by the United Nations (UN) back in 2015. 

The UN agencies and the government have been working together to ensure sustainable development solutions for areas such as poverty alleviation, climate change, women empowerment and education. And, undoubtedly, we have made progress socially, economically and financially. 

However, if we were to measure how far we have come along in fulfilling the SDGs. In that case, we will need timely, updated, reliable and accurate data to strengthen statements such as our GDP is growing, the poverty rate is alleviating, violence against women is decreasing and so on. And this is where we are lacking, profoundly. 

We also lack disaggregated data (data based on gender, race, ethnicity, etc, to better understand how sections of the population are doing) which means we are failing to track progress or its lack thereof in our marginalised communities.  

Not only for policymakers, researchers or students, availability of data is also essential for citizens to understand that their nation is progressing. 

Upon visiting the SDG Tracker page (https://www.sdg.gov.bd), most SDG indicators' graphs were empty; one might wonder if all these data would be collected and graphically represented by 2030. 32.11 % of all 248 indicators to monitor the 17 SDGs are currently unavailable here and 31.3% of them are in progress. Meaning more than 60% of these indicators have no data. 

To measure population and development, we usually use data sources such as Labour Force Survey (LFS), Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), Violence Against Women (VAW) Survey etc. 

Whenever we want to refer to data, we usually look up the information available on the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) website and find that many of the abovementioned sources are not updated. 

Sitting in 2022 and making assumptions based on surveys done in 2013 or 2015 is perhaps not the right way to monitor development progress. 

Former chairman and professor of the Department of Population Sciences at Dhaka University, Dr Mohammad Mainul Islam, said that it will be difficult to measure development without reliable, accurate and high-quality data. If we say per capita income is increasing, we must have proper data to support it. 

"Sustainable development means development measured over a period of time and to measure that, we need updated data. But we do not have them and are only seven years away from fulfilling the SDGs. How are the indicators being monitored? How are they being implemented?" he said. There is no way of knowing because there is not enough data.
"Interestingly, some indicators [to measure the SDGs] are set as high-priority ones. Why are not the others set as high-priority?" he said.

He mentioned some of the important population data sources, such as LFS and HIES, were not updated. LFS was not updated after 2013, whereas HIES was not updated after 2016 or 2017. "There is work going on to update the latest HIES data, but we do not know when they will be available for us to use. The people and policymakers both need to know about the data," said Dr Mainul Islam.

If the lack of updated and disaggregated data prevails, what might be their long-term impact? "In the long- term, it will make the implementation of policies difficult. Transparent and high-quality data help in making better policy suggestions," he said.

According to him, our development is people-centric and all of us are a part of our country's development, which is why people need to know how much we have progressed in terms of SDGs. 

On the importance of having data to measure development, he said, "we are also globally committed to having measure development, for example, to the UN. Our leaders have a responsibility here. Having sufficient data means we will be able to compare our development with other countries." 

The BBS has not yet released any data about the impact of Covid-19 on Bangladesh's population. Dr Mainul said, "Although the Covid pandemic happened all of a sudden and we were not prepared for it, it had a multifaceted impact on the country. It affected poverty, migration, unemployment etc. There should have been some data on them by now."

The professor further suggested whether it is BBS or any other government entity working on collecting, monitoring or researching key data, authorities should ensure they have enough resources, training or manpower to increase efficiency.