NITI Aayog under the Indo-German Cooperation released the Inaugural SDG Urban Index and Dashboard 2021–22 on 23 November 2021.
The index and dashboard are a result of the NITI Aayog-GIZ and BMZ collaboration focused on driving SDG localization in our cities, under the umbrella of Indo-German Development Cooperation.
Key Points:
» The SDG Urban Index and Dashboard ranks 56 urban areas on 77 SDG indicators across 46 targets of the SDG framework.
- The data on these indicators have been sourced from official data sources such as NFHS, NCRB, U-DISE, data portals of various ministries, and other government data sources.
» A comprehensive list of 77 indicators, covering 46 global SDG targets across 15 SDGs, are used in the index.
- SDG 14 (life below water) has not been included as it is relevant for only coastal areas, which are only a few of the selected cities.
- SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) has been excluded as the progress of its targets are monitored at the national level.
- While progress under SDG 15 (life on land) has been measured using two indicators, they have not been used in estimating the scores, owing to lack of adequate coverage.
» The index and dashboard will further strengthen SDG localization and institute robust SDG monitoring at the city level. It highlights the strengths and gaps of ULB-level data, monitoring, and reporting systems.
Methodology:
The statistical methodology for the SDG Urban Index is drawn from the globally accepted methodology developed by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
Ranking Scale:
- For each SDG, the urban areas are ranked on a scale of 0-100.
- A score of 100 implies that the urban area has achieved the targets set for 2030; a score of 0 implies that it is the farthest from achieving the targets among the selected urban areas.
- Overall or composite urban area scores are then generated from the Goal-wise scores to measure aggregate performance of the urban area.
Urban areas have been classified as below based on their composite score:
- Aspirant: 0–49
- Performer: 50–64
- Front-Runner: 65–99
- Achiever: 100
Result of SDG Urban Index and Dashboard 2021–22:
Out of 56 urban areas ranked in the index:
- 44 are with population of above one million.
- 12 are State capitals with population of less than a million.
- 25 are in the Performer category and 31 are in the Front Runner category.
| Rank | Urban Area | Composite Score |
| 1 | Shimla | 75.50 |
| 2 | Coimbatore | 73.29 |
| 3 | Chandigarh | 72.36 |
| 3 | Tiruvanantapuram | 72.36 |
| 5 | Kochi | 72.29 |
| Rank | Urban Area | Composite Score |
| 52 | Patna | 57.29 |
| 53 | Guwahati | 55.79 |
| 54 | Itanagar | 55.29 |
| 55 | Meerut | 54.64 |
| 56 | Dhanbad | 52.43 |