Non-monetary indicators to monitor SDG targets 1.2 and 1.4: standards, availability, comparability and quality

Abstract

This report offers a review of 14 non-monetary indicators of poverty to monitor progress towards the first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”. The reviewed indicators are housing materials, overcrowding, housing tenure, durable goods, access to safe water and improved sanitation, access to clean sources of energy, garbage collection and nearby sources of contamination, (public) transportation, child attendance to school and adult schooling, employment, social security and access to health care. For each of these indicators the study offers (a) short motivation about the capacity to “capture the essence” of some dimension of poverty, (b) a review of the indicator’s most prevalent specification/s and an indication of the minimum international standard – if there is one – for a satisfactory achievement, (c) a general assessment of current data availability, considering the most prominent standardised household surveys across the world, and (d) discussion and recommendations on each indicator’s specification and standard to be used homogeneously across countries. Two overarching messages from this report are: (1) that it is important to continue building international consensus regarding the desirable minimum thresholds and (2) that there is still room and need for significant improvements in data collection.