Bihar, Jharkhand and Nagaland were the worst performing states in NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index 2023-24 while Uttarakhand and Kerala have emerged as the top performer states. Nagaland, however, topped the Goal 5 (Gender Equality) with a score of 74. SDG India Index evaluates progress of states and union territories on social, economic and environmental parameters.
SDG India Index 2023-24 was released on Friday by NITI Aayog. The Index was launched by NITI Aayog vice chairperson Suman Bery in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO B. V. R. Subrahmanyam; UN Resident Coordinator in India, Shombi Sharp; NITI Aayog senior advisor Dr. Yogesh Suri and Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP, Isabelle Tschan Harada
According to the NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index 2023-24, India’s overall SDG score increased to 71 in 2023-24, compared to 66 in 2020-21, supported by significant progress on eliminating poverty, providing decent work, economic growth, climate action and life on land.
Among states, Uttarakhand and Kerala have emerged as joint top performing states with a score of 79, followed by Tamil Nadu (78) and Goa (77). On the contrary, Bihar (57), Jharkhand (62) and Nagaland (63) were the worst performing states. Among the union territories, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Delhi were the top five performers.
“Targetted intervention by the government has helped India achieve significant improvements across 16 goals set under the SDGs,” NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said after releasing the report.
“India is not only on track and ahead of others in achieving most of the targets under SDGs,” he said, adding the government hopes to achieve targets before 2030 across some of these goals.
The index shows that out of the 16 goals, India’s overall score is below 50 only on the ‘Goal 5’ (gender equality). According to the report, all states have shown an improvement in overall score. Scores for states ranged from 57 to 79 in 2023-24, significant improvement from 66 in 2020-21 and 57 in 2018 (baseline report).
Between 2018 and 2023-24, Uttar Pradesh was the fastest moving state as it increased its score by 25, followed by Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Sikkim. The fourth edition of SDG India Index measured and tracked national progress of all states and UTs on 113 indicators.
The SDGs, constituted through an unprecedented consultative process, have 17 goals and 169 related targets to be achieved by 2030.