Prioritization of the Sustainable Development Goals: Developing and Testing a Novel Framework Under Varying Geographic Scales

This study develops and tests a novel prioritization framework for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under varying geographic scales (regional, sub‐regional, national), focusing on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as a pilot case. Previous approaches have typically relied on single‐criterion prioritization or simple correlation‐based methods, which limited their ability to capture the complexity of SDG interactions and left important gaps in evidence‐based guidance for policymakers. The framework integrates two main criteria: level of performance assessed through trend analysis, benchmarking, normalization, and gap evaluation, and level of influence captured through a hybrid approach that combines causation analysis (IOTA), correlation, and multiple network centrality measures. The results revealed disparities in SDG achievement linked to income levels and geographical‐political aggregations, showing that political stability is often more critical than income in driving SDG progress. The analysis also highlighted the urgent need to support low‐income countries, LDCs (least developed countries), and conflict‐affected regions where performance gaps remain the largest. By combining robust performance metrics with a nuanced influence analysis, the framework identified high‐urgency targets and central indicators that can accelerate progress across multiple SDGs, offering policymakers clear entry points for action. The findings underscore the importance of tailored national strategies and regional cooperation to mitigate trade‐offs and leverage synergies, toward unbiased SDG achievement. While offering valuable tools for evidence‐based policy setting, the emerging stage of analytical methods and data availability remains challenging. Future directions highlight scenario modeling and refined analytical techniques to enhance the framework generalization.