SDGCounting

Tracking progress on counting and measuring the success of the Sustainable Development Goals.

An initiative of @StartingUpGood

#SDGs #GlobalGoals #Data

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

India spends $150 billion a year on social protection, yet most of it never reaches the people it's meant for. Indus Action's Tarun Cherukuri says the problem isn't the policy but the process. Claiming an entitlement averages ten burdensome steps.

https://t.co/XZzYM3SCI7

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

In Uganda, community workers find about 80% of TB cases by going out and looking for them. US aid cuts ended much of that outreach, and case notifications fell 14% in the first half of 2025. TB is curable, but only if someone finds it first.
https://t.co/FFg5FlLbOF

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

Four years from the 2030 deadline, new UN reports show development reforms delivering measurable results across food, health, education and energy, even amid rising debt, conflict and a steep drop in financing. Where coordination is strongest, delivery follows.

https://t.co/aEBpawo8my

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

Happening this weekend in Geneva: Global Dialogue on AI Governance.

Details:
https://t.co/Nqj2oONUHT

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

The development case for open AI sits downstream. Open models lower the cost of adapting tools to local languages, sectors, and resource-limited settings, where they have enabled low-cost healthcare diagnostics. OECD's analysis puts numbers to this:

https://t.co/h2HAkzVxHS

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

A view from the Global Data Festival (happening now):

@AlKags, founder of the @Open_Institute, address the interface between data and power.

He argues #opendata wins are reversing, and the data that would let the global South compete stays locked by design.

https://t.co/2VgtsbQh5J

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

Food systems are usually filed under SDG 2. A new FAO publication argues they sit behind all 17, with a dedicated brief for each goal showing how agrifood transformation drives progress on poverty, health, climate, oceans and inequality alike.

https://t.co/8AvzOsNWWh

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

Two leading climate scientists separate fear from fact. The warming is real and accelerating, but action to date has already cut projected warming this century by more than a degree.

Read the full discussion:

https://t.co/yqD3y5tqyI

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

Happening later this month: The SDG 16 Conference.

On June 17th, Italy, UN DESA, and IDLO convene at UN HQ to push coordinated action on the goal that is hardest to measure: peace, justice, and strong institutions.

https://t.co/4bK4xwNeQ1

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

The debate over what replaces the SDGs has started, before formal talks at the 2027 SDG Summit. Forus, a network of 24,000 civil society groups, says the window to 2030 is the time to shape not just the next goals but how accountability is structured.

https://t.co/FdRWrS6euc

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

"Leave no one behind" is the core promise of the SDGs, but you can only see who is being left behind if the data is broken down by income, gender, age, and place. That disaggregation is still missing across many indicators.

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

ICYMI: A Stanford panel asks what replaces the aid model as the Gates Foundation commits to spending $200 billion by 2045. Suzman, Songwe, Green, and Moore agree philanthropy can't fill the gap, and make the case for African-led finance.

https://t.co/yGK3Gmx5MO

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

How the world produces and consumes sits behind the climate, nature, and waste crises all at once. A new UNEP report finds governments are acting on it, with 616 sustainable consumption and production policies now in place across 76 countries and the EU.
https://t.co/TryLowWslZ

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

The SDGs are tracked through more than 230 indicators, but data availability was never a condition for choosing them. For a large share, the numbers needed to measure progress do not exist in most countries, so much of SDG tracking depends on estimates, not direct measurement.

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

Good news for SDG accountability: a study of two decades of German university communications finds sustainability messaging is mostly backed by real research, not spin. The catch is the link has weakened as university PR grew more professional.

https://t.co/IkyPuMVj9F

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

The most consequential part of UN reform for SDG tracking isn't the budget cuts, it's the data architecture. Guterres's latest UN80 update commits to a UN System Data Commons and shared platforms to break silos across tens of thousands of mandates.
https://t.co/2OrZs38idW

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

Deadline this Saturday: the UN SDG Action Awards are accepting applications and nominations across three categories recognizing changemakers, creative initiatives, and resilience efforts. Winners announced in Rome in October.

https://t.co/xYXsss7MZ0

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

Developed countries provided and mobilized $136.7 billion in climate finance in 2024, exceeding the $100 billion goal for a third straight year. The data always lags, but the trend is clearly positive, with private finance up 33% to $30.5 billion.
https://t.co/d6bHePn5UA

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

AI is transforming how development research is produced and used, but the standards for keeping that research transparent and trustworthy haven't kept pace. MeasureDev 2026 explored what needs to change.

https://t.co/A7Mc4ELz7W

[SDGCounting @sdgcounting]

Infectious disease R&D is treated as an expensive luxury rather than long-term investment in health systems. At WHA79, Wellcome's Jeremy Knox warned that as governments cut aid spending, the pipeline behind vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments weakens.

https://t.co/lLLmgucQ5z