IAOS-OECD 2018 conference, 19-21 September 2018, Paris. More information at: http://www.oecd.org/iaos2018/

1. OECD Study on Measuring
Distance to SDG Targets
IAOS Conference, Better Statistics for Better Lives
Paris, 20 September 2018
Michal Shinwell

2. OECD Study: Measuring Distance to SDG targets
 Designed in response to demand by OECD
countries
 Tool to help identify priorities for action and
communicate on the challenge of SDG
 First presented to OECD Council in July 2016,
then in margins of High Level Policy Forum
in New York
 2017 Update published in June, with 13
countries covered: Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg,
Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia,
Slovak Republic and Sweden
 Next update to be published in Q1/2019,
including expanded data and country
coverage.

3. Goals
Targets
Indicators
Dataseries
The complexity of tracking
progress on SDGs:
And then: disaggregations, time series, alternative indicators and indexes, etc……..

4. The methodology of the Study
In order to measure distance from SDGs, we need to:
1. Select indicators (and collate data)
2. Set levels for targets
3. Normalise values to use one unifying metric

5. Selecting indicators
Indicators selected based on UN IAEG list and complemented by
OECD data:
 OECD data for indicators comparable to UN global framework (65)
 OECD proxies for UN indicators where UN does not yet have data (14)
 UN data where no OECD sources exist (37)
 Additional relevant OECD indicators (15)
Total of 128 unique indicators covering 98 targets

6. Available data on SDGs describe a statistical agenda
ahead for OECD countries
0
25
50
75
100
0
25
50
75
100
Percentage of targets covered by Goal (left) and the 5Ps (right), all OECD countries

7. Setting target levels
Three sources of 2030 target levels (absolute/relative):
 Directly from 2030 Agenda, e.g. ODA/GNI target of 0.7% (40%)
 Agreed in international agreements or norms, e.g. PM 2.5
pollution less than 10 micrograms/m3 (33%)
 Best OECD performance now (10th percentile), e.g. ~ 56% waste
recycling rate (27%)

8. Modified Z-score
D 𝐴 = max
𝑇 − 𝑥
ߪ
, 0
ߪ
5 ߪ
Normalising distances to targets
• Normalisation method: modified “z-score”
• Standard deviation of available data for all OECD countries
Current performance,
country x
Target to achieve
by 2030

9. Study Results
OECD average results by Goal and 5 Ps
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
Poverty
Food
Health
Education
GenderEquality
Water
SustainableProduction
Climate
Oceans
Biodiversity
Energy
Economy
Infrastructure
Inequality
Cities
Institutions
Implementation
.
People Planet Prosperity Peace Partnership
Note: This figure shows OECD’s distance to travel towards each of the 17 Goals of the 2030 Agenda. Bars show OECD’s performance.
The y-axis indicates the distance from reaching the target in standardised units. 0 indicates that the level for 2030 has already been
attained, and the axis starts at 3 as most OECD countries have already attained this level. Distances to target are aggregated at the goal
level (all targets weighted equally).

10. Countries’ distances vary by goal
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
Note: The distribution of OECD countries’ distances on the 17 Goals in standard deviation units. Central black bars: OECD
median country score. Box boundaries: first and third quartiles of the country distribution. Whiskers: 10th and 90th
percentiles of this distribution.
How OECD countries vary in their distance to targets, by SDG Goal

11. Results visualised at target, goal and 5P level
Note: The chart shows how far the OECD (on average) is from achieving each target for which data is available. The longer
the bars the shorter the distance is to be travelled by 2030. Targets are clustered by goal, and goals are clustered by the

12. Next steps for the OECD Study
• Assist member countries in using the Study to inform
national debates, design implementation strategies
and for HLPF presentations
• Updated Study to be published in March 2018,
including expanded coverage of targets, indicators and
countries
• Further exploration of SDGs: SDGs for children and
youth, Transboundary effects within the SDGs
(working papers, forthcoming)

13. Thank you.