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The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals

Author

Listed:
  • Fengmei Ma
  • Heming Wang
  • Asaf Tzachor
  • César Hidalgo
  • Heinz Schandl
  • Yue Zhang
  • Jingling Zhang

    (LEREPS - Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Economie, les Politiques et les Systèmes Sociaux - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Toulouse - ENSFEA - École Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l'Enseignement Agricole de Toulouse-Auzeville)

  • Wei-Qiang Chen
  • Yanzhi Zhao
  • Yong-Guan Zhu
  • Bojie Fu

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a comprehensive framework for societal progress and planetary health. However, it remains unclear whether universal patterns exist in how nations pursue these goals and whether key development areas are being overlooked. Here, we apply the product space methodology, widely used in development economics, to construct an ‘SDG space of nations'. The SDG space models the relative performance and specialization patterns of 166 countries across 96 SDG indicators from 2000 to 2022. Our SDG space reveals a polarized global landscape, characterized by distinct groups of nations, each specializing in specific development indicators. Furthermore, we find that as countries improve their overall SDG scores, they tend to modify their sustainable development trajectories, pursuing different development objectives. Additionally, we identify orphaned SDG indicators — areas where certain country groups remain under-specialized. These patterns, and the SDG space more broadly, provide a high-resolution tool to understand and evaluate the progress and disparities of countries towards achieving the SDGs.

Suggested Citation

  • Fengmei Ma & Heming Wang & Asaf Tzachor & César Hidalgo & Heinz Schandl & Yue Zhang & Jingling Zhang & Wei-Qiang Chen & Yanzhi Zhao & Yong-Guan Zhu & Bojie Fu, 2025. "The disparities and development trajectories of nations in achieving the sustainable development goals," Post-Print hal-04919687, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04919687
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56076-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Carolina Bueno & Rafael Macharete & Clarice Araújo Rodrigues & Felipe Kamia & Juliana Moreira & Camila Rizzini Freitas & Marco Nascimento & Carlos Grabois Gadelha, 2025. "Global Knowledge Asymmetries in Health: A Data-Driven Analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-21, July.
    2. Xu, Zihan & Lin, Yuqing & Zheng, Huining & Zhang, Rixuan, 2025. "Mapping ecosystem services to SDGs network: A toolkit to integrate ecosystem services into SDGs co-realization," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Qi Wang & Xianhui Dang & Ting Song & Guangpeng Xiao & Yongqin Lu, 2025. "Agro-Tourism Integration and County-Level Sustainability: Mechanisms and Regional Heterogeneity in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-27, May.
    4. Mykola Odrekhivskyi & Uliana Kohut & Volodymyr Kolomatskyi & Natalia Horbal & Tomasz Wołowiec & Tetiana Dluhopolska, 2025. "Assessment and Forecasting of the Environmental Sustainability Statuses of Innovative Enterprises in the Context of Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-26, April.
    5. Sadullah Çelik & Ömer Faruk Öztürk & Ulas Akkucuk & Mahmut Ünsal Şaşmaz, 2025. "Global Sustainability Performance and Regional Disparities: A Machine Learning Approach Based on the 2025 SDG Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-28, August.
    6. Jun Yang & Wenbo Yu & Alexander Baklanov & Baojie He & Quansheng Ge, 2025. "Mainstreaming the local climate zone framework for climate-resilient cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-5, December.

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