Measuring distance to the SDG targets – Germany

Germany has already achieved 25 of the 130 SDG targets for which comparable data are available
and, based on most recent trends, is expected to meet 12 additional targets (Figure 1). As virtually
all OECD countries, Germany has already met (or is close to meeting) most targets related to securing
basic needs and implementing the policy tools and frameworks mentioned in the 2030 Agenda (see details
in Table 1). Further, Germany has an attractive labour market, has been very successful at activating skills
of the workforce, and has pursued an ambitious environmental policy. While there is scope for
improvement, Germany reports good achievements in terms of peace, justice and institutions (Goal 16) as
well as Partnerships (Goal 17). Yet, challenges remain. As in many OECD countries, long-term growth of
GDP (Target 8.1) and labour productivity (Target 8.2) have been slowing down over the past decades
while important challenges also relate to unequal opportunities for women and minorities.
This country profile provides a high-level overview of some of Germany’s strengths and challenges in
performance across the SDG targets. As such, it differs in nature from Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs)
or other reporting processes. To ensure international comparability, this assessment builds on the global
indicator framework and relies on data from the SDG Global Database and OECD databases. VNRs
typically use national indicators that reflect national circumstances and are more up-to-date (see section
How to read this country profile that provides some methodological details on country profiles).

Figure 1. Germany's distance from achieving SDG targets included in this report

Source: All data is taken and adapted from (UNDESA, 2021[1]), SDG Global Database, https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/unsdg and (OECD, 2021[2]),
OECD.Stat, https://stats.oecd.org/ (accessed on 29 October 2021).

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022

2

Main strengths

Germany has pursued an ambitious and comprehensive environmental policy. Germany is a leader
on waste management, topping the OECD league on recycling (Targets 11.6 and 12.5) while the per capita
consumption of materials decreased despite economic growth (Targets 8.4 and 12.2). Germany is also
well below the OECD average on waste from food services and retails but close to the OECD average
when it comes to household’s food wastes. When it comes to the protection of biodiversity, protected areas
cover 38% of the terrestrial area and 45% of the territorial sea, well beyond the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity
Targets. Yet, more than 20% of freshwater, terrestrial, mountain and marine areas that are considered as
key for biodiversity are not protected (Targets 14.5, 15.1, 15.4). As many other OECD countries, Germany
has implemented some of the policy instruments listed under the Planet category, including on
Targets 14.6 on harmful subsidies to fisheries, 15.6 on benefits from genetic resources and 15.8 on
invasive alien species. While the loss of biodiversity is a global concern, the conservation status of major
species in Germany is better than in most OECD countries (Target 15.5).
Germany has an attractive labour market and has been very successful at activating skills of the
workforce. Average hourly earnings are high and the unemployment rate is less than half the OECD
average (Target 8.5). Germany has one of the most comprehensive social protection system (Target 1.3).
While there is still scope for improvement, progress has been made in reducing the impact of socio-
economic background on education outcomes (Target 4.5), as shown by better education outcomes
(Target 4.1) and a steep rise in childcare enrolment (Target 4.2) show. Functional skills in numeracy and
literacy (Target 4.6) as well as digital skills (Target 4.4) of German adults are above the OECD average,
but fall short of leading countries. The vocational education and training (VET) system ensures the
integration of young people in the labour market and most German youth are either in employment,
education or in training (Target 8.6). Participation in life-long learning is also ahead of the OECD average
but could be further enhanced (Target 4.3). High employment also benefit from the strength of some
economic sectors. The share of manufacturing value added in GDP is large, at 17% in 2020, 3% above
the OECD average (Target 9.2). Germany also has high researchers per capita and a high share of R&D
expenditure in GDP in 2019 (Target 9.5).
While there is scope for improvement, Germany reports good achievements on both peace, justice
and institutions (Goal 16) and partnerships (Goal 17). It is ahead of the OECD average on most
indicators underpinning Targets 16.1 and 16.2 on violence (with the exception of the share of the
population who experienced physical violence in the previous 12 months), and on citizens’ confidence in
the judicial system (Target 16.6), which is 15 percentage points higher than the OECD average. Yet, on
the rule of law (Target 16.3) and on inclusivity of decision making (Target 16.7), available measures provide
a more nuanced picture, with Germany being close to the OECD average on most indicators. On
Partnerships (Goal 17), Germany shows strong achievements in foreign trade with developing countries
and market openness (Targets 17.10 and 17.12). Germany is also one of the few OECD countries
exceeding the target on Official Development Assistance, with 0.74% of its GNI going to ODA
(Target 17.2). While there is scope for improvements when it comes to aligning ODA to partner countries’
priorities and to country-owned results frameworks (Target 17.15), Germany is still ahead of the OECD
average.

Main challenges

Although health status remains high, behavioural risk factors are a challenge to people’s health.
Germany has the oldest social health insurance system in the world and access to health care is good.
Very few households reports high out-of-pocket health expenditures (Target 3.8). Still, non-medical
determinants of health such as poor diets, smoking and alcohol consumption are major drivers of morbidity
and mortality. Adult smoking (Target 3.a) is above the OECD average and, while smoking rates have been

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022

 3

declining, the growing popularity of e-cigarettes, particularly among young people, is a cause for concern
(Target 3.a). In addition, around one quarter of the population is obese (Target 2.2) and alcohol intake
(Target 3.5) is well above the OECD average.
Tackling unequal opportunities for minorities and women requires further efforts. Germany still
lacks a comprehensive legal framework to end discrimination against women (Target 5.1). While it
achieves the highest score in the “employment and economic benefits” and “marriage and family”
categories, there is scope for improvement on the “overarching legal frameworks and public life” and
“violence against women”. Women remain underrepresented in decision-making positions in both the
political and economic sphere (Target 5.5). Germany is one of the few OECD countries that even
experienced a significant setback, with the share of women among members of parliament falling by more
than 5 percentage and reverting to the level that prevailed in 1998. In the private sphere, German women
spend longer time in unpaid care and domestic work than men (Target 5.4) – but this gap is 35 minutes
below the OECD average. Beyond gender, Germany only partially meets the requirements to facilitate
orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration (Target 10.7). It also reports a low score on diversity of
central government workforce and is thus far from meeting Target 16.7 on inclusive decision-making.

Statistical gaps

Like in many other OECD countries, data availability remains a challenge when measuring
distances to targets (see the Overview chapter for details). For Germany, available data on the level of
the different indicators allows covering 130 of the 169 targets. As shown in Figure 2 below, indicator
coverage is uneven across the 17 goals. Ten goals (mostly within the People, Planet and Prosperity
categories) have most of their targets covered (the indicator coverage exceeds 80%), but coverage is lower
for Goal 11 on cities, with only half of its targets covered. Data gaps become starker when focusing on
performance indicators, excluding those providing contextual information. In this case, coverage exceeds
80% only for Goal 3 on health, Goal 4 on education and Goal 10 on inequalities. Moreover, for seven goals,
mostly within Planet category (Goals 12, 13, 14 and 15) but also in Goals 5 on gender equality, 11 on cities
and 17 on partnerships, data are lacking to monitor progress over time for more than two in three targets.

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022

4

Figure 2. Germany's share of the 2030 Agenda’s targets covered by at least one indicator, by goal

Data is available Distance to target can be measured Progress over time can be gauged

100

80

60

40

20

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 12 13 14 15 7 8 9 10 11 16 17
People Planet Prosperity Peace Part.

Note: The figure represents Germany's share of targets covered by at least one indicator for each SDG. Numbers from 1 to 17 stand for the
goals: 1 No poverty, 2 Zero hunger, 3 Good health and well-being, 4 Quality education, 5 Gender equality, 6 Clean water and sanitation,
7 Affordable and clean energy, 8 Decent work and economic growth, 9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure, 10 Reduced inequalities,
11 Sustainable cities and communities, 12 Responsible consumption and production, 13 Climate action, 14 Life below water, 15 Life on land,
16 Peace, justice and strong institutions and 17 Partnerships for the goals. These goals are grouped under five broad themes (the “5Ps”):
People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership. Beyond data availability, other statistical gaps such as timeliness or granularity also need to
be considered. For instance, given the lag in available data, the effects of the pandemic on current distance and trajectories may not be reflected
in the estimates.
Source: All data is taken and adapted from (UNDESA, 2021[1]), SDG Global Database, https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/unsdg and (OECD, 2021[2]),
OECD.Stat, https://stats.oecd.org/ (accessed on 29 October 2021).

Detailed information

While some SDG Targets are, on average, close to being met, performance is very uneven across the
17 Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Table 1 presents an overview of Germany’s
progress towards targets based on available data for each of the 17 Goals. It shows that distances to
Targets and trends over time differ significantly even when considering a specific goal.

Table 1. Germany distances to targets and recent trends

Goal Target Short Label Distance to Trend Assessment OECD OECD Trend
Target (s.u.) Average Assessment
distance (s.u.)
1 1.1 Extreme poverty 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.00 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
1 1.2 Poverty in all its dimensions 0.98 No progress or moving 1.41 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
1 1.3 Social protection coverage 0.11 Target is achieved or on 0.80 No progress or moving
track to being achieved away from the SDG target
1 1.4 Access to basic services 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.00 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
1 1.5 Resilience to shocks 0.56 n.a. 1.00 n.a.
2 2.1 Hunger 0.02 Target is achieved or on 0.28 No progress or moving
track to being achieved away from the SDG target
2 2.2 Malnutrition 2.31 No progress or moving 2.46 No progress or moving

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022

 5

Goal Target Short Label Distance to Trend Assessment OECD OECD Trend
Target (s.u.) Average Assessment
distance (s.u.)
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
2 2.4 Sustainable production 1.29 Progress has been made, 1.34 No progress or moving
but is insufficient to meet away from the SDG target
the target
2 2.5 Diversity of seeds and 4.20 No progress or moving 3.59 No progress or moving
livestocks* away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
2 2.c Food prices anomalies 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.00 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
3 3.1 Maternal mortality 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.00 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
3 3.2 Death of newborns and 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.00 Target is achieved or on
children track to being achieved track to being achieved
3 3.3 Communicable diseases 0.13 Progress has been made, 0.56 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
3 3.4 Premature mortality 1.23 Progress has been made, 1.26 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
3 3.5 Prevention of Substance 0.88 Progress has been made, 0.63 Progress has been made,
abuse but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
3 3.6 Road traffic accidents* 0.19 Progress has been made, 0.78 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
3 3.7 Access to sexual health-care 0.23 Progress has been made, 0.58 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
3 3.8 Health coverage 1.28 Progress has been made, 1.79 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
3 3.9 Deaths and illness from 0.54 No progress or moving 0.55 No progress or moving
pollution away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
3 3.a Tobacco consumption 3.10 Progress has been made, 2.65 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
3 3.b Vaccination 0.52 Target is achieved or on 0.37 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
3 3.d Health emergency 0.63 Target is achieved or on 1.19 Target is achieved or on
preparedness track to being achieved track to being achieved
4 4.1 Primary and secondary 1.20 No progress or moving 1.17 No progress or moving
education away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
4 4.2 Pre-primary education 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.24 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
4 4.3 Lifelong learning 0.92 Progress has been made, 1.25 No progress or moving
but is insufficient to meet away from the SDG target
the target
4 4.4 Skills for employment 1.15 No progress or moving 1.23 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
4 4.5 Disparities in education 1.60 No progress or moving 1.49 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
4 4.6 Adults' literacy and numeracy 1.27 n.a. 1.57 n.a.
4 4.7 Skills for sustainable 0.42 n.a. 1.04 n.a.
development
4 4.a Education facilities 0.00 n.a. 0.05 n.a.
5 5.1 Discrimination against 0.96 n.a. 1.32 n.a.
women

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022

6

Goal Target Short Label Distance to Trend Assessment OECD OECD Trend
Target (s.u.) Average Assessment
distance (s.u.)
5 5.3 Harmful practices 0.58 n.a. 1.37 n.a.
5 5.4 Unpaid care and domestic 1.28 n.a. 1.79 n.a.
work
5 5.5 Women's participation 2.19 No progress or moving 1.89 Progress has been made,
away from the SDG target but is insufficient to meet
the target
5 5.b Women's empowerment 0.17 Target is achieved or on 0.53 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
6 6.1 Access to drinking water 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.15 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
6 6.2 Waste water treatment 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.35 Progress has been made,
track to being achieved but is insufficient to meet
the target
6 6.3 Water quality 1.00 Target is achieved or on 0.68 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
6 6.4 Water-use efficiency 0.64 Progress has been made, 0.54 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
6 6.5 Water resources 0.31 n.a. 0.98 n.a.
management
6 6.6 Water-related ecosystems* 0.75 n.a. 2.18 n.a.
7 7.1 Access to energy 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.00 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
7 7.2 Clean energy 0.92 Progress has been made, 0.62 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
7 7.3 Energy efficiency 0.56 Progress has been made, 0.98 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
8 8.1 GDP growth 2.00 No progress or moving 1.89 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
8 8.2 Productivity 2.38 No progress or moving 1.77 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
8 8.4 Material footprint 0.23 Progress has been made, 0.82 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
8 8.5 Employment 0.24 Target is achieved or on 0.97 No progress or moving
track to being achieved away from the SDG target
8 8.6 NEET 0.74 Progress has been made, 1.69 No progress or moving
but is insufficient to meet away from the SDG target
the target
8 8.8 Labour rights 0.51 No progress or moving 0.80 Progress has been made,
away from the SDG target but is insufficient to meet
the target
8 8.10 Financial institutions 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.45 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
8 8.b Strategy for youth 0.00 n.a. 0.45 n.a.
employment
9 9.2 Sustainable industry 0.40 Progress has been made, 0.95 No progress or moving
but is insufficient to meet away from the SDG target
the target
9 9.4 Environmental impact 0.55 Progress has been made, 0.87 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
9 9.5 Research and development 0.21 Target is achieved or on 1.06 Progress has been made,
track to being achieved but is insufficient to meet
the target

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022

 7

Goal Target Short Label Distance to Trend Assessment OECD OECD Trend
Target (s.u.) Average Assessment
distance (s.u.)
9 9.c ICT 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.36 Progress has been made,
track to being achieved but is insufficient to meet
the target
10 10.1 Income distribution 1.67 No progress or moving 1.23 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
10 10.2 Social inclusion 1.34 No progress or moving 1.54 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
10 10.3 Inequalities of outcome 1.04 Progress has been made, 1.27 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
10 10.4 Redistribution 0.57 No progress or moving 1.12 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
10 10.5 Financial markets 0.84 Progress has been made, 0.90 No progress or moving
but is insufficient to meet away from the SDG target
the target
10 10.7 Migration 1.76 n.a. 0.69 n.a.
10 10.a Tariff-lines 1.45 Progress has been made, 0.93 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
10 10.c Remittances 2.41 n.a. 2.21 n.a.
11 11.1 Housing 0.32 No progress or moving 0.80 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
11 11.3 Urbanization 1.67 Progress has been made, 1.19 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
11 11.6 Environmental impact of 0.13 Target is achieved or on 0.49 Progress has been made,
cities track to being achieved but is insufficient to meet
the target
11 11.a Urban policies 0.00 n.a. 0.23 n.a.
11 11.b Disaster Risk Reduction 0.56 n.a. 0.81 n.a.
12 12.1 Sustainable cons. and prod. 0.00 n.a. 0.00 n.a.
12 12.2 Efficient use of natural 0.38 Progress has been made, 0.87 Progress has been made,
resources but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
12 12.3 Food waste 0.93 n.a. 1.36 n.a.
12 12.4 Chemical and hazardous 1.15 n.a. 1.02 n.a.
waste*
12 12.5 Waste generation 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.66 Progress has been made,
track to being achieved but is insufficient to meet
the target
12 12.7 Public procurement practices 0.00 n.a. 0.00 n.a.
12 12.8 Education for sustainability 0.42 n.a. 1.04 n.a.
12 12.b Tourism sustainability 2.38 No progress or moving 1.87 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
13 13.1 Resilience to climate events 0.56 n.a. 0.73 n.a.
13 13.2 Greenhouse gas emissions 0.92 Progress has been made, 1.15 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
13 13.3 Education for sustainability 0.42 n.a. 1.04 n.a.
14 14.1 Marine pollution** 1.29 Progress has been made, 1.84 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
14 14.4 Overfishing and IUU fishing* 1.30 n.a. 1.78 n.a.
14 14.5 Protected marine areas* 0.21 Progress has been made, 0.38 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022

8

Goal Target Short Label Distance to Trend Assessment OECD OECD Trend
Target (s.u.) Average Assessment
distance (s.u.)
14 14.6 Harmful subsidies to 0.00 n.a. 0.36 n.a.
fisheries*
14 14.b Small-scale fisheries 1.80 n.a. 1.64 n.a.
15 15.1 Ecosystem protection* 0.37 Progress has been made, 0.74 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
15 15.2 Sustainable use of forest* 0.43 Target is achieved or on 0.60 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
15 15.4 Mountain ecosystems 0.29 Progress has been made, 0.73 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
15 15.5 Threatened species* 0.19 Progress has been made, 1.20 No progress or moving
but is insufficient to meet away from the SDG target
the target
15 15.6 Benefits from genetic 0.00 n.a. 0.78 n.a.
resources
15 15.8 Invasive alien species* 0.00 n.a. 0.30 n.a.
15 15.9 National and local planning* 0.32 n.a. 0.54 n.a.
16 16.1 Violence and related deaths 0.54 No progress or moving 0.66 Progress has been made,
away from the SDG target but is insufficient to meet
the target
16 16.2 Violence against children 0.37 Progress has been made, 0.65 No progress or moving
but is insufficient to meet away from the SDG target
the target
16 16.3 Rule of law 2.13 No progress or moving 2.33 No progress or moving
away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
16 16.6 Accountable institutions 1.48 Progress has been made, 2.26 Progress has been made,
but is insufficient to meet but is insufficient to meet
the target the target
16 16.7 Inclusive decision-making 1.97 n.a. 1.85 n.a.
16 16.10 Access to information 0.00 n.a. 0.00 n.a.
16 16.a National institutions 0.00 Target is achieved or on 0.54 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
17 17.2 Official Development 0.35 Target is achieved or on 0.94 Progress has been made,
Assistance track to being achieved but is insufficient to meet
the target
17 17.10 Multilateral trading system 0.01 Target is achieved or on 0.45 Target is achieved or on
track to being achieved track to being achieved
17 17.12 Market access for least 0.37 No progress or moving 0.72 No progress or moving
developed countries away from the SDG target away from the SDG target
17 17.15 National leadership to 1.74 n.a. 2.32 n.a.
implement policies for
poverty eradication
17 17.16 Global Partnership for 0.00 n.a. 0.89 n.a.
Sustainable Development
17 17.18 Statistical capacity 0.00 n.a. 0.09 n.a.
17 17.19 Statistical capacity-building 0.00 n.a. 0.11 n.a.

Note: * refers to targets with a 2020 deadline. ** refers to targets with a 2025 deadline. The OECD average is measured as the simple average
across OECD countries with available data.
Source: All data is taken and adapted from (UNDESA, 2021[1]), SDG Global Database, https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/unsdg and (OECD, 2021[2]),
OECD.Stat, https://stats.oecd.org/ (accessed on 29 October 2021).

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022

 9

How to read this country profile

The OECD report The Short and Winding Road to 2030: Measuring Distance to the SDG Targets evaluates
the distance that OECD countries need to travel to meet SDG targets for which data are currently available.
It also looks at whether countries have been moving towards or away from these targets, and how likely
they are to meet their commitments by 2030, based on an analysis of recent trends and the observed
volatility in the different indicators.
As most authors and international organisations, this report adopts a rather simple geometric growth model
for assessing the direction and pace of recent changes in the context of the SDGs. Yet, instead of making
direct estimates of the value of the indicator by 2030, it models the likelihood of achieving a specific level
using Monte Carlo simulations.
While the report provides an overview of where OECD countries, taken as a whole, currently stand, country
profiles provide details of the performance and data availability of individual OECD countries.

How to read the OECD SDG Wheel?

Progress on SDGs requires a granular understanding of countries’ strengths and weaknesses based on
the consideration of the 169 targets of the 2030 Agenda. Figure 1 shows both current achievements (in
the inner circle; the longer the bar, the smaller the distance remaining to be travelled) as well as whether
OECD countries are on track (or are at least making progress) to meet their commitments by 2030 (in
the outer circle).
The length of each bar shows current level of achievement on each target. As detailed in the
Methodological Annex, countries’ distance to target is measured as the “standardised difference” between
a country’s current position and the target end-value. For each indicator, the standardised measurement
unit (s.u.) is the standard deviation observed among OECD countries in the reference year (i.e. the year
closest to 2015). Therefore, the longer the bar, the shorter the distance still to be travelled to reach the
target by 2030. The colours of the bars applied to the various targets refer to the goals they pertain to.
The outer ring shows how OECD countries are performing over time and how likely they are to meet the
different targets by 2030 based on the observed trends of the various indicators. It uses stoplight colours
to classify the progress towards the target:
 green is used to indicate those countries that (based on the change in the different indicators over
a recent period) should meet the target in 2030 just by maintaining their current pace of progress
(i.e. more than 75% of (randomised) projections meet the target);
 yellow for those countries whose current pace of progress is insufficient to meet the target by 2030
(i.e. less than 75% of randomised projections meet the target, while the correlation coefficient
between the indicator and the year is high and statistically significant, implying that a significant
trend could be detected); and
 red for those countries whose recent changes have been stagnating or moving them further away
from the target (i.e. less than 75% of randomised projections meet the target and the correlation
coefficient between the indicator and the year is low or statistically insignificant, implying that no
statistical trend could be identified).

How to read the Strength and Challenges sections?

With the aim of helping its member countries in navigating the 2030 Agenda and in setting their own
priorities for action, this report relies on a unique methodology for measuring the distance that OECD
countries have to travel to achieve SDG targets. The identification of the main strengths and challenges
proposed in this report relies on current performances only:

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022

10 

 A target is considered to be a strength when the distance to the target end-value is lower than
0.5 s.u. (i.e. the distance is deemed to be small) or when the country is closer to the target than
the OECD average. For instance, while Korea's distance to Target 2.2 on malnutrition is 1.4 s.u.
(i.e. classified as medium distance), the average OECD distance is 2.5 s.u. Therefore, Target 2.2
is categorised as being a strength for Korea.
 A target is considered to be a challenge when the distance to target is greater than 1.5 s.u. (i.e.
distance is deemed to be long) or when the country is further away from the target than the OECD
average. For instance, Estonia's distance to Target 4.2 on pre-primary education is 1.1 s.u. (i.e.
medium distance), which is higher than the 0.24 s.u. distance for the OECD average. Target 4.2 is
therefore classified as a weakness for Estonia.
While the lack of consistent time series often prevents an exhaustive assessment of trends, they are
discussed when available and relevant in nuancing the assessment of current performance.

How to read the Statistical Gaps section?

In total, this report relies on 537 data series supporting 183 of the 247 indicators listed in the global
indicator framework (or for close proxies of these indicators). These indicators cover 134 of the 169 SDG
targets. Yet, target coverage is uneven across the 17 goals and among OECD member countries.
Figure 2 summarises data availability:
 darker blue bars indicate the share of targets for which at least one indicator (including indicators
providing context information) is available
 lighter blue bars indicate the share of targets for which the available indicator(s) include those
having a clear normative direction (i.e. allowing to distinguish between good and bad performance),
which are the only ones used to measure distances to target levels.
 medium blue bars indicate the share of targets for which progress over time can be gauged (i.e. at
least three observations are available over a five-year period).
All methods and concepts are further detailed in the Methodological Annex.

MEASURING DISTANCE TO THE SDG TARGETS – GERMANY © OECD 2022