Indicator Preferences in National Reporting of Progress Toward the Sustainable Development Goals

The document examines how countries customize the global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator set to fit national contexts. Analyzing nine countries, it finds that while 65% of reported indicators match the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) suggestions, there is significant under-reporting of environmental goals. The authors argue that the choice of indicators reflects a country's policy commitment and recommend that nations build reporting capacity using existing systems while avoiding 'cherry-picking' easy targets.

• An analysis of nine countries (Finland, Germany, Georgia, Mexico, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Switzerland, Venezuela, and Uganda) reveals that over 26 per cent of the indicators suggested by the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) are not reported by any of these countries.
• Reporting preferences vary significantly by goal; social and economic dimensions such as health (SDG 3), education (SDG 4), and economic growth (SDG 8) are most reported, while environmental and nature-related goals like life below water (SDG 14), life on land (SDG 15), and responsible consumption and production (SDG 12) are the least reported.
• Countries utilize three types of indicators in their reporting: those identical to UNSC suggestions, those similar to them, and those that are country-specific. In the studied group, 65 per cent of reported indicators were the same as those suggested by the UNSC, 22 per cent were similar, and 13 per cent were different.
• The authors posit that the specific indicators a country chooses to use serves as a proxy for the level of policy commitment to implementing the SDGs.
• The document warns against 'cherry-picking'—selecting only convenient goals while ignoring others—because the synergistic nature of the SDGs requires achieving the complete set to avoid compromising the overall framework.
• The briefing provides three recommendations: countries should build reporting capacity based on existing measurement systems while following UNSC guidance, complement global metrics with national-issue indicators where global ones are missing, and ensure reporting covers difficult areas like sustainable consumption and production rather than just convenient targets.

APA

Bizikova, L., & Pinter, L. (2017). Indicator Preferences in National Reporting of Progress Toward the Sustainable Development Goals. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/indicator-preferences-national-reporting-progress-toward-sdgs.pdf

Chicago

Bizikova, Livia, and Laszlo Pinter. Indicator Preferences in National Reporting of Progress Toward the Sustainable Development Goals. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2017. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/indicator-preferences-national-reporting-progress-toward-sdgs.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bizikova |first1=Livia |last2=Pinter |first2=Laszlo |title=Indicator Preferences in National Reporting of Progress Toward the Sustainable Development Goals |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=June 2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/indicator-preferences-national-reporting-progress-toward-sdgs.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bizikova2017indicator, author = {Bizikova, Livia and Pinter, Laszlo}, title = {{Indicator Preferences in National Reporting of Progress Toward the Sustainable Development Goals}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/indicator-preferences-national-reporting-progress-toward-sdgs.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }