Data & Analytics

Data and analytics are increasingly recognized as fundamental elements in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These 17 goals, adopted by the United Nations in 2015, aim to address global challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. Each goal is interconnected, requiring a holistic approach to achieve sustainable development by 2030. Within this framework, SDG 17, "Partnerships for the Goals," is particularly crucial as it highlights the need for high-quality, timely, and reliable data to drive progress across all goals.

The importance of data and analytics in realizing the SDGs cannot be overstated. Accurate and insightful data is necessary for several key aspects: assessing current progress, identifying existing gaps, informing policy-making, and guiding the allocation of resources. For instance, in addressing SDG 1, "No Poverty," data helps in understanding the demographics of poverty, allowing for targeted interventions. Similarly, for SDG 3, "Good Health and Well-being," data analytics play a crucial role in tracking disease outbreaks, understanding health trends, and improving healthcare delivery.

In the education sector, under SDG 4, "Quality Education," data can inform about areas where educational resources are lacking or where dropout rates are high, guiding efforts to enhance education systems. Additionally, for SDG 13, "Climate Action," data is indispensable for understanding climate patterns, predicting future scenarios, and formulating strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Advancements in data collection and analytics methods have opened up new possibilities. Mobile technology, for example, has revolutionized data collection, enabling real-time gathering and dissemination of information even in remote areas. Remote sensing technologies, such as satellite imagery, provide critical data on environmental changes, agricultural patterns, and urban development. These methods not only expand the scope of data collection but also enhance its accuracy and timeliness.

However, challenges remain in harnessing the full potential of data for the SDGs. These include issues related to data availability, quality, accessibility, and interoperability. In many parts of the world, especially in developing countries, there is a significant data deficit. This gap hinders the ability to make informed decisions and effectively address the SDGs. Moreover, data collected must be reliable and relevant to be useful in policy formulation and implementation.

To overcome these challenges, partnerships between governments, private sector, academia, and civil society are vital. These collaborations can foster innovation in data collection and analytics, ensure data sharing, and build capacities for data analysis. Furthermore, there is a need for a global framework to standardize data collection and reporting methods, which will facilitate comparison and aggregation of data across regions and countries.

Image of front cover of Elsevier report The Power of Data in Advancing the SDGs
Access to information is critical in achieving the SDGs - empowering the public to make decisions, informing policy making and enabling effective implementation and monitoring. RELX businesses regularly produce and publish free to download reports and analytics that draw upon vast amounts of information and data in support of the SDGs. Explore some of the reports and tools developed to date.
The paper presented a comprehensive analysis of the research/publications landscape on the application of Machine Learning in Climate Change Research based on data.
This Article supports SDG 3 by showing, through a modelling analysis, that community tenofovir, lamivudine, and dolutegravir (TLD) is likely to reduce HIV incidence and be cost-effective, thus leading to population health benefits.
This article tackles the issue of high energy consumption created by data centers. They find an immediate way to quickly mitigate some of the massive energy sink is by simply operating data centers at higher temperatures. As such, this article supports SDGs 9 (ensuring data centers that are key to current society are sustainable) and 13 (a rapid solution to immediately reduce fossil-fuel driven energy consumption).
This study supports SDG 13 by examining climatic features, M − K trend test, variability, precipitation concentration index and temperature variability on the role of smallholder farmers in eastern Ethiopia.
The study shows the spike glycoproteins of the coronaviruses that are carried by these animals and by humans; they have a number of major structural similarities to one another.
This Article supports SDG 3 by showing that a broad range of interventions for behaviours that challenge are efficacious for people with intellectual disability, but that effect sizes are small
This Article supports SDG 3 by examining the possible effects of hypertension prevention strategies on future dementia and disability occurence. The results suggest that the decrease in dementia and disability due to these interventions is likely to be offset by an increase in the susceptible poulation due to the increase in life expectancy.
The study was conducted with the aim of investigating population diversification and characterization morphologically which helps to fill the gap of molecular characterization on the population of donkey.
As the upcoming generation occupies a larger portion of the workforce, issues around the topic of diversity will only continue to grow in importance. Not only is Generation Z more racially and ethnically diverse than previous generations, but members of this generation are also more likely to expect employers to actively work toward cultivating diversity in the workplace. The recent DIAL Global Diversity Review, co-sponsored by XpertHR, presents comprehensive data on the practices being used to promote diversity in the workplace today. This report addresses various facets of diversity from gender and ethnicity to socioeconomic status and parenthood, promoting SDGs 5, 8 and 10.

Pages