SDG Index: Bangladesh slips 6 notches but still ahead of India, Pakistan

Bangladesh has dropped six notches on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index but still ranks ahead of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in South Asia, according to the Sustainable Development Report 2024.

Released on 17 June by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the 9th edition of the report places Bangladesh at 107th among 167 countries, down from 101st in the 2023 report. The country scored 64.35 out of 100, compared to 65.9 last year.

In South Asia, Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Nepal secured the top four positions, ranking globally 61st, 67th, 93rd, and 95th, respectively. India ranked 109th, Pakistan 137th, and Afghanistan 162nd globally, occupying the bottom three positions in the region.

The SDGs highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the current UN system. The 193 UN member states achieved a great milestone in agreeing to a shared framework for global transformation by 2030, and to 17 overarching goals with 169 specified targets.

Bangladesh’s performance status on the targets

Bangladesh has achieved or is on track to achieve 29.7% of the SDG targets, while 39.2% have made limited progress and 31.1% of targets have been worsening.

The country has already achieved only one SDG – climate action – out of the 17 development goals.

It has been only on track or maintaining SDG achievement in one goal – quality education, according to the report – while significant challenges remain.

The country has been moderately improving in achieving six goals: no poverty; zero hunger; good health and well-being; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; and industry, innovation, and infrastructure.

However, the report highlights significant and major challenges remaining in achieving these goals.

Bangladesh’s position is stagnating in achieving seven goals: gender equality; decent work and economic growth; reduced inequalities; sustainable cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; climate action; life below water; life on land; and partnership for the goals.

Major challenges remain for most of these goals.

Peace, justice, and strong institutions are the only goals for which Bangladesh’s efforts to reach them are decreasing.

Overall, 2% of the data is missing in the SDG Index for Bangladesh.

Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute, said, “The decreasing trend in performance in peace, justice, and strong institutions reflects the overall malfunction of government institutions. Institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Bangladesh Bank, and other regulatory bodies are failing to fulfil their responsibilities. A prime example of this is the ongoing crisis in the banking sector.”

He added, “Bangladesh won’t be able to reach its SDG targets due to a lack of local resources and the failure to fulfil commitments made by international bodies.”

Regarding Bangladesh’s achievement of climate action targets, the economist remarked that he doesn’t see any major initiatives being taken that would help the country achieve this milestone.

Performance in additional indices

In addition to the SDG Index, this year’s edition includes a new index of countries’ support for UN-based multilateralism, covering all 193 UN Member States, where 0 corresponds to low support and 100 to high support for UN-based multilateralism. Bangladesh ranks 38th with a score of 80.2.

The report also has an “International Spillover Index,” which tracks the impacts of a given country’s actions on others. Bangladesh scored 97 out of 100, where a higher score means that a country causes more positive and fewer negative spillover effects.

Global perspective

Nordic countries continue to lead on SDG achievement, with Finland ranking number 1 on the SDG Index, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and France.

In addition, East and South Asia has emerged as the region that has made the most SDG progress since 2015.

“On average, globally, only 16% of the SDG targets are on track to be achieved by 2030, with the remaining 84% demonstrating limited or a reversal of progress,” read the report.

The report further highlights that the SDGs will not be achieved by 2030, in significant part because of the many shortcomings of the global financial architecture. The severe and ongoing geopolitical tensions have also gravely undermined cooperation among the major economies. Of course, Covid-19 was also an enormous shock to the global economy and to progress on the SDGs.