Towards an Action Plan for Monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals in Turkey

Monitoring the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires a considerable amount of data. Regardless of their level of development, most countries’ statistical services demand some adaptation or improvement in an attempt to reduce, to the greatest possible extent, the current lacunae in information. In Turkey, one area that requires particular improvement is data disaggregation, especially according to social groupings, and along a rural-urban distinction that reflects a more functional understanding of this distinction. Administrative data collected during the delivery of governmental services could provide substantial amounts of relevant information; however, at present such collection processes are neither regular nor systematic. Ensuring consistency and continuity in the collection, measurement and definitions of data, as well as promoting improvements in the formulation of survey questions, could go a long way to improving the availability of information in Turkey, both for SDG monitoring and for the general design and implementation of policies and measures. While Turkey intends to follow the SDG Monitoring Road Map being developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), important work by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on developing a Wellbeing Index is an already significant step forward towards improving the SDG monitoring in Turkey.