Introduction

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is the 2030 core agenda in sustainable development which was agreed by world leader in 25 September 2015 at the United Nations Conference. SDG is continuity to development agenda after the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) end in 2015. MDGs consist of 8 Goals and 21 Targets. While SDG were expanded to 17 Goals and 169 Targets which continue the goals to achieve the 2030 agenda in stability in three dimensions of sustainable development namely social, economy and environment.

2030 Agenda is a global commitment towards a more sustainable, resilient and inclusive development. The global indicator framework adopted by the United Nations General Assembly comprises of 244 global indicators. The indicator framework has been reviewed in 2019 and presented to the 51^st United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) in March 2020. Currently, there are 247 SDG indicators agreed and adopted for monitoring of 2030 Agenda.

Malaysia's effort for SDG

Malaysia's involvement in the development of the SDG at the international began in late 2014; with the involvement of Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the negotiation process between United Nations country members (Inter-Governmental Meetings) held from January until July 2015 to finalize the Post 2015 Development Agenda (P2015DA). Discussions between United Nations country members were including the declarations of P2015DA, Sustainable Development Goals and Targets, Means of Implementation and follow-up & review.

The Involvement of Department of Statistics

In July 2015, the DOSM was officially appointed as the focal point to coordinate the SDG data collection during Main Users Committee No.1/2015. The main role of focal point is to coordinate the compilation of SDG indicators from various line ministries/agencies.

Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) has published the Initial Assessment of the SDG Indicators for Malaysia, 2018 which present preliminary assessment of the availability of data for 244 SDG indicators in Malaysia. The first report of SDG Indicators Malaysia, SDG Indicators, Malaysia, 2018 was published in 2019 which consists of 99 indicators. The second report ‘SDG Indicators, Malaysia, 2019’ was published in December 2020 which consists of 128 indicators. 

Currently, the third report, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Indicators, Malaysia, 2020 was published in December 2021 with 146 available indicators. This improvement is fully supported by the cooperation and coordination from agencies and Ministries. Malaysia has achieved a better level of indicators availability with the addition of 18 new indicators and 19 indicators at the district level. This in turn can help in the measurement and monitoring of the SDG at the smallest area. For the purpose of disseminating and sharing data related to SDG, DOSM has launched this National SDG Progress Monitoring System (SDG Dashboard) in March 2019. SDG Dashboard can be accessed via  http://mysdg.dosm.gov.my/.

DOSM's contribution at international level

In September 2015, the DOSM was appointed as a member of the High Level Groups on Sustainable Development Goals (HLG-SDGs) meeting representative of Malaysia and the Asia Pacific region for the period of 2016 until 2017. The HLG-SDGs consist of 22 countries and was established to set the strategic direction in the development of SDG.

DOSM has been appointed as a member of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG indicators (IAEG SDG) since July 2019 until July 2021 and contributed to the review of ‘2020 Comprehensive Review Proposal’ as well as regularly review methodological developments and issues related to the indicators and their metadata.

DOSM also has volunteered as member for Working Group Member on Geospatial Information (WGGI) for IAEG-SDG and is involved in discussions related to the development of indicators using geospatial methods and member of sub working group for metadata to discuss matters related to SDG metadata.

Malaysia also is a member of Working Group Sustainable Development Goals Indicators (WGSDGI) at Asean level and has involved in the preparation of the Asean SDG Baseline Report 2020 publication which was launched in October 2020 and continue to contribute to the Asean SDG Indicator development works.