The UN SDG Action Campaign, UN Global Pulse, and Microsoft organised the fourth annual Data Playground, an interactive event showcasing data and technological innovations for the SDGs.
Data Playground and Breakout sessions
120+ innovators from both the public and private sector gathered at the event. After a word of welcome by Robert Kirkpatrick, Director of Global Pulse, and Mitchell Toomey, Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign, the attendees participated in a total of six breakout sessions, including “AI for Earth” – by Microsoft and “MY World 2030”.
Moreover, throughout the reception visitors could try out the latest and greatest in immersive storytelling with the UNVR 360 exhibition, and the Institute for the Future special demo Simtainer. They also had the opportunity to explore and share citizen perceptions on the SDGs with real time SDG data visualisations, and the MY World 2030 survey.
We would like to thank everyone, especially our inspiring speakers and colleagues for a vibrant DATA PLAYGROUND 2017 and are looking forward to welcoming you next year!
This and other key findings are part of the results of several pilot studies collecting perceptions on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to assist decision-makers in SDG review activities. The results, collected through a collaborative research project between the UN SDG Action Campaign and Paragon Partnerships, in particular Kantar Public and Lightspeed, as part of the MY World 2030 project, were presented today during the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) at the United Nations. The Forum is the central platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals held from Monday, 10 July, to Wednesday, 19 July 2017.
The UN SDG Action Campaign & Kantar Public have developed and tested a question library of almost 100 SDG Questions and then conducted a research study in 11 voluntary reporting countries for this year. The results are representative and weighted samples across the following countries provide a baseline against which to measure progress in future years.
Argentina
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
Italy
Japan
Malaysia
The Netherlands
Portugal
Sweden
Thailand
Key Findings
One third of people are aware of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Overall. One in three respondents are aware of the Sustainable Development Goals. Younger respondents (ages 16-29) were more familiar with the SDGs than older respondents. There are huge differences among countries. Respondents in Thailand (the least developed country in the sample) were the most aware, while respondents in Denmark (the most developed country) were least aware. Japan and Argentina were the countries with least awareness levels, with over 80% of the population not aware of the SDGs. There is a lot to be done!
SDG 1 / 20% of the population is still struggling to afford basic needs.
This percentages goes up to 35% for those who haven’t completed primary education.
Thinking about you and your household, which of the following best describes your financial situation?
SDG 2 / The struggle for food is very similar in countries with the highest and lowest Development Index and it affects about 20% of the population who are struggling to have enough food to eat.
When asked about how easy or difficult has it been for respondents and their household to have enough food to eat, 20% of all respondents across the sample, without distinction between Low and High Developed Countries (according to the Human Development Index) found it very or quite difficult to have enough food to eat in the past twelve months. Some differences are shown, with Argentina, a country with a Very High HDI level, reporting the most difficulty ( 37% stated “Quite Difficult.”) and Denmark with the least difficulty (55% answering “Very Easy”).
Question: Thinking about the last 12 months, how easy or difficult has it been for you and your household to have enough food to eat?
SDG 3 / Access to healthcare has not changed since last year. 1 in 4 respondents are not satisfied with the quality.
For the majority of respondents the situation hasn’t changed. But one in four respondents are not satisfied with the quality of healthcare. Thailand scored as the country where it has most improved.
Question: How satisfied are you with the health services and treatments you and your household have had over the last 12 months?
SDG 5 / More people agree than disagree that women earn the same amount of money for doing the same job.
Overall, more respondents agree than disagree that women earn the same amount of money for doing the same job. Regional differences are shown, as the majority of European respondents disagree with this statement, while the majority of S.E Asian respondents agree.
Question: “Today, in our society, women and men earn the equal amount of money for doing exactly the same work at the same level”. Do you agree with this statement?
SDG 9 / Access to internet is still an issue.
One in five respondents reported they were “often” or “always” having problems with internet access. Malaysian respondents reported the most difficulty accessing the internet with 11% answering “always” versus the Netherlands as the country with the least difficulty, with 61% answering “never” or “rarely”. The age difference also played a role, with the majority of respondents aged 60+ reporting more difficulty than younger ones.
SDG 14 / The oceans and seas are not clean enough, and half the population agrees.
Argentina and Italy scored high (73% in Argentina and 69% in Italy) in the perception that their rivers and lakes are not very clean or not clean at all. In Italy and the Czech Republic, conditions have gotten worse according to around 30% of the people surveyed, whereas in Malaysia and Portugal, conditions were reported to have improved. Sweden and Denmark were the exception, with above 70% of the respondents reporting that their rivers and lakes were very clean or fairly clean.
Question: In your opinion, how clean are the rivers and lakes around where you live ?
Good Health, Eradication of Poverty and Decent Work are the primary concerns for citizens.
It is interesting to note that in MY World 2015, with a much bigger sample size, the top issues of concern were Education, Healthcare, Jobs, Honest & Responsive Government. People are still choosing the same top issues two years on! After good health, the top concerns change for women and men – for women being “No poverty” and men being more concerned with “Decent Work and Economic Growth”. Quality Education also made it as a top concern in Argentina.
Methodological Note
In total, 7,772 respondents took part in the survey in 11 countries, ranging from 350 in Denmark to 1,011 in Czech Republic. Quotas were set by age, gender and region in each country. Respondents were sampled from Lightspeed and TNS online and mobile access panels. Data is weighted by age, gender, and region in each country. Cross-country comparison is based on additional weights by country population size
In other words: assuming probability sample, for a question response of 49%, we can say that in 95 out of 100 surveys, the true value (which would be obtained if the entire population were asked the question) lies between 46% and 52%.
Recently in New York, data gurus and global development experts gathered together for a special MY World + UN Global Pulse event to explore possible ways of utilizing the MY World data set. To date, more than 645,000 people from 194 countries have cast their vote and provided incredibly useful demographic information – age, gender, education level and country. Such a rich data source presents a creative challenge to data artists and analysts to build an accessible and interactive means of exploring the information.
