So how is the UK doing? If you want to read all of the data for every goal you can look at the national report (always remember we will make this look good for us). I’ve picked out a few interesting points.
Goal 1. No poverty. Compared to the rest of the world this is a fairly pointless measure for the UK. The level of inequality in the UK has reduced since the 1800s in the UK, however since the mid 1970s it has started to rise again (no matter the flavour of government). This is one of the things I spotted while looking at the data – sometimes all the political screaming is none-sense compared to the data.
One of the measures of this goal relates to spending on healthcare. I know – sounds more like goal 3. But an interesting fact is the the public healthcare spending in the UK is a smaller proportion of government spending (or GDP) than most other western countries (including the USA!). In countries like the USA this is supplemented by private spending at about the same level. However the level of health achieved with the spending is about the same. This means we get more bang for our bucks than many other countries – our NHS is a very effective way of delivering health care.
Goal 5 Gender equality. Generally the level of pay inequality has been changing at a reasonably fast rate. Sounds good. But when you drill in to the figures you find that the level of gender pay inequality rises quickly as you get to the highest levels of pay. So women make up 30% of the top 10% of earners, but only 10% of the top 0.1% of earners.
Goal 12 Responsible consumption. The UK has been improving in this area, but the most striking thing to me was the comparison with our near neighbours. We are one of the best countries in Europe and are steadily improving. We are often told how amazing Germany is – but their consumption is about twice ours per capita – and they have hardly changed over the last 20 years.
My impression over the years of listening to news and politics simply does not match with the measurements. I guess the answer is to listen to the science. All of this information is readily available to us. Next time you hear something about “could do better” or “fantastic record” try looking up the SDG tracker.