<1000 days to the MDGs: Data Dashboards to Monitor the last Stretch

Data on Millennium Development Goals (MDG) indicator trends for developing countries and for different groups of countries are curated in the World Development Indicator (WDI) database.  Each year we use these data in the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) to track progress on the MDGs.  Many colleagues, as well as non-Bank staff, approach us on a weekly basis with questions regarding where their region, or country, or sector stands in regard to achieving the core MDGs.  Oftentimes in the same breath, they will also ask us whether or when we expect that a particular country or region will meet a certain MDG.  

With less than 1,000 days remaining to the MDG deadline, work on the Post-2015 agenda is in full swing. In response to the growing demand for additional info about GMR analytics and the underlying data, we developed a suite of open and interactive data diagnostics dashboards available at: http://data.worldbank.org/mdgs.  Below is an extract which summarizes the progress status towards meeting various MDGs among countries in various regions, income and other groups.  Select different indicators and highlight categories of progress status to interact with the visualization.

Using any type of device (smart phone, tablet, laptop or desktop) and any type of operating environment (Windows, Android or iOS), people everywhere can now access our data and GMR diagnostics at any time.  The dashboards enable exploring and comparing data trends and targets for all countries, regions, income and other groups such as fragile and conflict situations.  They also allow for comparing MDG progress status by indicator across different groups and vice versa.  And a separate dashboard provides details of the progress towards each MDG target in each country and includes our projected trends (for 2015 and 2030) based on two different methods: one which bases its outlook on the pace of progress made since 1990 and a second method which extrapolates based on the progress achieved over the last five years.  Both methods obviously have their pros and cons, but it provides the user with at least two benchmarks to make their own assessment of whether a country, region, or group of countries is on target to achieve the core MDGs.

We hope our many clients, including any new clients we have reached through this blog post, will find this useful.  We welcome and look forward to receiving feedback to help us improve the content and functionality.