Poland higher than Italy and US in UN sustainable development ranking
20:35
This year, Poland took 23rd place in the annual SDG Index. The ranking measures the level of achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Poland has committed itself to meeting them as one of the 193 UN member states by adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The SDG Index (Sustainable Development Goals Index) is an indicator that measures a country's progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. There are seventeen of them, and they cover meeting the challenges in five areas entitled: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership.
The ranking results depend on the scores obtained by the country. It can be interpreted as a percentage of the achievement of the SDG. One hundred points means that the country has completed its task one hundred percent. So far, none has succeeded. The closest are the Scandinavian countries: Sweden (84.72 points), Denmark (84.56 points) and Finland (83.77 points). Poland came in twenty-third place (out of 193 UN member states) with a score of 78.10 points. This is a result above the regional average of 77.3 points.
As the report and ranking published in July show, we are doing quite well with the implementation of the sustainable development goals in Poland. We are ahead of developed countries, such as Italy (30th position) or the USA (31st position). Also, Iceland, which is perceived as an environmentally friendly country, is in a position three notches worse.
The low score for counteracting climate change undoubtedly contributed to the deterioration of Poland's result in the ranking. Poland, next to Belgium, Spain, Iceland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal and Latvia, is among the countries that not only do not make progress, but on the contrary - they fare worse and worse in achieving this goal every year.
