The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals
Abstract The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a comprehensive framework for societal progress and planetary health. However, it remains unclear whether universal patterns exist in how nations pursue these goals and whether key development areas are being overlooked. Here, we apply the pr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56076-6 |
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| author | Fengmei Ma Heming Wang Asaf Tzachor César A. Hidalgo Heinz Schandl Yue Zhang Jingling Zhang Wei-Qiang Chen Yanzhi Zhao Yong-Guan Zhu Bojie Fu |
| author_facet | Fengmei Ma Heming Wang Asaf Tzachor César A. Hidalgo Heinz Schandl Yue Zhang Jingling Zhang Wei-Qiang Chen Yanzhi Zhao Yong-Guan Zhu Bojie Fu |
| author_sort | Fengmei Ma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a comprehensive framework for societal progress and planetary health. However, it remains unclear whether universal patterns exist in how nations pursue these goals and whether key development areas are being overlooked. Here, we apply the product space methodology, widely used in development economics, to construct an ‘SDG space of nations’. The SDG space models the relative performance and specialization patterns of 166 countries across 96 SDG indicators from 2000 to 2022. Our SDG space reveals a polarized global landscape, characterized by distinct groups of nations, each specializing in specific development indicators. Furthermore, we find that as countries improve their overall SDG scores, they tend to modify their sustainable development trajectories, pursuing different development objectives. Additionally, we identify orphaned SDG indicators — areas where certain country groups remain under-specialized. These patterns, and the SDG space more broadly, provide a high-resolution tool to understand and evaluate the progress and disparities of countries towards achieving the SDGs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f84d639fb1f5439d837b692967f82b55 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-f84d639fb1f5439d837b692967f82b552025-02-02T12:31:56ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116112010.1038/s41467-025-56076-6The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goalsFengmei Ma0Heming Wang1Asaf Tzachor2César A. Hidalgo3Heinz Schandl4Yue Zhang5Jingling Zhang6Wei-Qiang Chen7Yanzhi Zhao8Yong-Guan Zhu9Bojie Fu10Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesCenter for Collective Learning, CIAS, Corvinus University of BudapestSchool of Sustainability, Reichman University (IDC Herzliya)Center for Collective Learning, CIAS, Corvinus University of BudapestCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Eco-Industry, Northeastern UniversityLEREPS - Laboratoire d’Etude et de Recherche sur l’Economie, les Politiques et les Systèmes Sociaux; Institut d’Études Politiques [IEP]Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Carbon Neutrality Technology and Policy, Shenyang UniversityKey Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of SciencesState Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of SciencesAbstract The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a comprehensive framework for societal progress and planetary health. However, it remains unclear whether universal patterns exist in how nations pursue these goals and whether key development areas are being overlooked. Here, we apply the product space methodology, widely used in development economics, to construct an ‘SDG space of nations’. The SDG space models the relative performance and specialization patterns of 166 countries across 96 SDG indicators from 2000 to 2022. Our SDG space reveals a polarized global landscape, characterized by distinct groups of nations, each specializing in specific development indicators. Furthermore, we find that as countries improve their overall SDG scores, they tend to modify their sustainable development trajectories, pursuing different development objectives. Additionally, we identify orphaned SDG indicators — areas where certain country groups remain under-specialized. These patterns, and the SDG space more broadly, provide a high-resolution tool to understand and evaluate the progress and disparities of countries towards achieving the SDGs.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56076-6 |
| spellingShingle | Fengmei Ma Heming Wang Asaf Tzachor César A. Hidalgo Heinz Schandl Yue Zhang Jingling Zhang Wei-Qiang Chen Yanzhi Zhao Yong-Guan Zhu Bojie Fu The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals Nature Communications |
| title | The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals |
| title_full | The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals |
| title_fullStr | The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals |
| title_full_unstemmed | The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals |
| title_short | The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals |
| title_sort | disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56076-6 |
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