Measuring Progress

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) use time-bound, quantifiable targets and indicators to monitor advancement towards achievement of the Goals. It is expected that a post-2015 development framework will also use targets and indictors to measure, uphold and report on progress.

Part of the discussions currently taking place to design a new global framework for (sustainable) development is focused on the elaboration of new goals, targets and indicators. While the MDGs and their related targets and indicators predominantly try to measure the social aspects of development, the process to establish sustainable development goals (SDGs) will have to consider a more comprehensive set of goals, targets and indicators – which incorporates all three dimensions of sustainable development (social, economic and environmental) – in order to adequately monitor progress towards ensuring human and environmental wellbeing.

The discussions will also have to consider how the new global framework will take into account different national circumstances, capacities and levels of development, and how this will be reflected in the goals, targets and indicators.

This section of the website aims to shed light on the use of goals, targets and indicators to measure social, economic and environmental progress and, in doing so, support stakeholders to develop their own proposals for a new sustainable development framework post-2015. From this page you can access resources on the following:

Definitions of the terms goal, target and indicators

Why goals, targets and indicators

Examples of goals, targets and indicators that have been – or could be – used to measure social, economic and environmental progress

Discussion on global vs local targets and indicators

Local vs Global

SDGs e-Inventory

e-Inventoryformodule

Key definitions

Goal: A desired result or end-point. For example, one of the Millennium Development Goals is to ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.’

Target: An area to be influenced or changed – usually within a finite time period – in order to contribute to progress towards the overall goal. For example, a target which contributes to the above goal is: ‘halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day.’

Indicator: Something that provides an indication of change or progress towards meeting a target. Usually something that can be measured quantitatively. For example, the ‘proportion of population below $1 per day’ can be used to track progress towards the above target.