SDG16DI Global Report

The SDG16DI 2020 Global Report argues that official data from National Statistical Offices (NSOs) are often insufficient, unreliable, or unavailable for monitoring SDG16 targets, particularly regarding conflict-related deaths, corruption, and press freedom. It highlights the critical role of 'non-official data'—produced by NGOs and academic institutions—in filling these gaps. The report provides case studies on sex-disaggregated data for violent deaths, trade-related illicit financial flows in developing nations, corruption and vote-buying in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the use of expert-based indices to measure representative decision-making. It also notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated governance challenges while simultaneously reducing the capacity of NSOs to collect data.

• Non-official data is essential for monitoring SDG16 because civil society producers face fewer bureaucratic hurdles, can pilot new methodologies more quickly, and are less likely to encounter internal resistance when reporting on politically sensitive issues like corruption and femicide.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has increased domestic violence, created more legal needs regarding bankruptcy and medical debt, and led to attacks on whistleblowers and media due to government desires to control pandemic-related information.
• Global lethal violence is highly gendered; in 2018, 596,000 people died from lethal violence, of whom 16 percent (93,700) were women. While overall violent deaths decreased between 2017 and 2018, the number of female victims did not decrease at the same pace because the overall reduction was primarily driven by a decrease in male victims in de-escalating armed conflicts.
• The United Nations has never systematically collected official data on the location or death tolls of wars because classifying a conflict as 'war' is an inherently political and sensitive act, leading states to use alternative labels such as 'troubles' or 'terrorism'.
• Trade misinvoicing is a persistent challenge for reducing illicit financial flows in developing countries. Between 2008 and 2017, a total value gap of $8.7 trillion was identified in trade between developing and advanced economies.
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between vote-buying and trust in government in eight countries, including Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
• Official indicators for representative decision-making (SDG 16.7) are often unavailable or conceptually limited. The Global State of Democracy Indices (GSoDI) provide a more viable proxy by using expert assessments and Bayesian factor analyses to cover 162 countries over 45 years.
• While the number of journalists killed in the line of duty dropped from 54 in 2018 to 25 in 2019, media experts report a continued overall decline in press freedoms worldwide, particularly in the Americas.

APA

Peace Research Institute Oslo (2020). SDG16DI Global Report. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4e9450ee-c919-4edb-8ce1-a74f98172c8a/SDG162020-Report-FINAL.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Peace Research Institute Oslo. SDG16DI Global Report. 2020. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4e9450ee-c919-4edb-8ce1-a74f98172c8a/SDG162020-Report-FINAL.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Peace Research Institute Oslo |title=SDG16DI Global Report |date=2020 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4e9450ee-c919-4edb-8ce1-a74f98172c8a/SDG162020-Report-FINAL.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{peaceresearchinstituteoslo2020sdg16di, author = {{Peace Research Institute Oslo}}, title = {{SDG16DI Global Report}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2020}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4e9450ee-c919-4edb-8ce1-a74f98172c8a/SDG162020-Report-FINAL.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }