Who’s Counting: The 2017 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals

This week, the World Bank released the 2017 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals, visually tracking progress toward the SDGs.

The 2017 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals was released by the World Bank earlier this week, an anticipated product of the World Development Indicators (WDI). The SDG Atlas provides over 150 maps and graphs, charting the progress toward the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The 2017 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals: a new visual guide to data and development

The World Development Indicators are the “primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates”. While WDIs correspond with SDG Indicators, and the World Bank is the custodian agency of multiple SDG indicators, the WDI and SDG global indicator framework are not identical.

The SDG Atlas is a tool to visualize trends in development. Various indicators have been mapped and graphed according to region and organized by SDG. Through a commitment to open data sharing, WDI databases are free to download, alongside interactive dashboards to facilitate exploration and creation.

Data | The World Bank

Here are examples of how WDI indicators and SDG Atlas graphs correspond to SDG targets and indicators, highlighting World Development Indicators over time and geographies.

Corresponds to SDG indicator 1.1.1 “proportion of the population below the international poverty line, by sex, age, employment status, and geographic location (urban/rural).”

Corresponds to SDG indicator 2.2.1 “Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age.”

Corresponds to SDG indicator 5.5.1 “Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments.”