Bangladesh lags behind its peers in progress report on Sustainable Development Goals

Bangladesh is lagging behind many countries, including other nations in South Asia, in a progress report on UN Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.

Bangladesh scored a rank of 120 out of 157 countries in the SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2017 by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Its overall performance on the index was 56.2, lower than the regional average score of 63.3. Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka all scored higher than Bangladesh on the index, while Pakistan and Afghanistan scored lower.

Bangladesh has a ‘red’ threshold on 10 of the 17 SDGs, indicating that it needs to overcome major challenges in order to meet the goals.

Bangladesh received red ratings on the SDG2 - zero hunger, SDG3 - good health and well-being, SDG4 - quality education, SDG7 - affordable and clean energy, SDG8 - decent work and economic growth, SDG9 - industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG11 - sustainable cities and communities, SDG14 - life below water, SDG16 - peace, justice and strong institutions and SDG 17 - partnership for the goals.

Its lowest scores were on SDG9 and SDG11.

It received a yellow rating on the remaining seven SDGs, indicating there is significant work to be done to attain those goals.

The UN calls the SDGs a ‘universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity’.

The SDGs, which build on the UN’s previous Millennium Development Goals, seek to address issues of economic growth, education, health, social protection and climate change.

The Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by world leaders in September 2016 and came into effect in January 2016.