Data Availability and Challenges to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Bangladesh

The availability and quality of population and development disaggregated data are crucial for monitoring the progress of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Tracking progress and improvement in policy agendas, enhancing demographic data availability, validating statistics, and setting goals is essential. This study assesses the progress of the availability of data and the challenges to achieving SDGs in Bangladesh by reviewing the government's SDG tracker and relevant national policy documents through web searching. The study finds that 36.9% of the SDG indicators are updated, 31.7% are in progress, and 32.1% are unavailable. 60% of data are unavailable for specific SDGs 12 and 14. Existing policies also need to be updated to follow the SDGs. Bangladesh encounters notable obstacles in pursuing SDGs, including the need for baseline data. Other challenges involve the absence of guidance for generating new data, reliance on outdated data, limited tools and methods for disaggregation, inadequate coordination in sharing data among agencies, and a need for more awareness about international metadata standards. It is necessary to make urgent efforts to make available quality data for all goal indicators through effective multi-sectoral partnerships, coordination, and integration among stakeholders to strengthen and improve the data capacity of the country. Thus, establishing a national data repository or information bank that consolidates relevant data from each concerned organization is necessary, and it will be linked with the SDGs Tracker. This configuration will facilitate tracking initiatives, enabling effective monitoring and evaluation of real progress. The government should undertake systematic data assessments and advocate for UN agencies to enhance and improve administrative data capacity. Each ministry or directorate ought to establish a unit dedicated to overseeing high-quality scientific research that will create a suitable environment essential for unbiased and fruitful quality research outcomes, fortifying infrastructure, and ensuring information accessibility.