Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

With multilateral and global partnerships already challenged by scarce financial resources, trade tensions, technological obstacles and a lack of data, the COVID-19 pandemic has administered an unprecedented shock to the global system. In addition, there is severe pressure on FDI, which is expected to fall by 40 per cent. The fiscal impacts of the pandemic are leading to debt distress in countries and territories and limiting their fiscal and policy space for critical investments in recovery (including accessing vaccines), climate change and the Goals, which threatens to pro long recovery periods. The pandemic has focused attention on the crucial role of global partnerships. The interconnected global economy requires a global response to ensure that all countries and territories, in particular developing countries, can address the compounding and parallel health, economic and environmental crises in order to recover better.

Finance

As of 2019, across approximately 130 economies, government revenue, including taxes, social contributions and grants, accounts for approximately 33 per cent of GDP on average. In addition, the average overall tax burden or revenue in the form of taxes is 25 per cent of GDP in advanced economies and 17 per cent of GDP in emerging market and developing economies. The average proportion of gover nment expenditure funded by taxes is 67 per cent in advanced economies and 62 per cent in emerging market and developing economies.

Net ODA flows were $161 billion in 2020, an increase of 7 per cent in real terms compared to 2019 and the highest level ever recorded. This is equivalent to 0.32 per cent of the combined gross national income of Development Assistance Committee donors, up from 0.3 per cent in 2019 but below the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income for ODA. The increase in ODA is owing in part to the support of Committee members for an inclusive global recovery in the light of the pandemic and in part to an increase in bilateral sovereign lending by some lending members.

Global flows of FDI were under severe pressure in 2020. These vital resources are expected to have fallen by 40 per cent from $1.5 trillion in 2019 to less than $1 trillion for the first time since 2005, undoing the already lacklustre growth in international investment over the past decade. International private sector investment flows to developing and transition economies in sectors relevant for the Goals were also on course to fall by about one third in 2020.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries and territories reached $540 billion in 2020, just 1.6 per cent below the total of $548 billion for 2019.

By the end of 2020, the cumulative number of countries and territories that have signed or adopted bilateral investment treaties with the least developed countries and developing economies reached 121 and 183, respectively. The number of countries and territories with bilateral investment treaties in force or implemented reached 102 and 173, respectively. The rate of new countries and territories signing such treaties has slowed in recent years, following a rapid increase in the 1990s.

Information and communications technology

As of 2019, just over half of the world’s population was online, with a large digital divide observed among regions. For example, while 85 per cent of the population in Europe and Northern America had Internet access, only 20 per cent were connected in the least developed countries.

While fixed-broadband subscriptions continue to increase, growth in subscriptions slowed to 2.7 per cent in 2020. In developed countries, there were more than 33 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, representing a high penetration rate, while the number in developing countries stood at 11.5 per 100 inhabitants. In the least developed countries, fixed networks are almost completely absent, with only 1.3 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

Capacity-building

Total ODA for capacity-building and national planning amounted to $35.9 billion in 2019 and represented 14 per cent of total sector allocable aid, a figure that has been stable since 2010. The main sectors assisted were energy policy, public administration and the financial sector, which received a total of $13.8 billion.

Trade

For the period from 2017 to 2019, the worldwide weighted tariff average has remained steady at around 2 per cent. Agriculture and clothing still have the highest tariff averages at around 6 per cent, followed by textiles at around 4 per cent. In 2019, small but relatively more significant improvements were recorded for two important sectors, textiles and clothing, in the least developed countries and developing countries.

The share of least developed country exports in global merchandise trade remained constant at 1 per cent in 2019, having stagnated over the past decade after significant improvement from 2000 to 2010. The target of doubling the share of least developed country exports worldwide to 2 per cent by 2020 from their 2011 level is unlikely to be achieved. For developing countries, the share in world merchandise exports has remained constant at about 45 per cent since 2012. In 2019, the share of the least developed countries in world services exports stood at 0.8 per cent, while the share of developing countries in those exports has levelled off since 2012, reaching 30.2 per cent in 2019.

After reaching its lowest level of 1.1 per cent in 2011, the average tariff applied by developed countries to imports from developing and least developed countries in 2019 has remained unchanged owing to a lack of new commitments by developed countries. At the sectoral level, clothing and textiles have remained stable at their peak of 8 and 5 per cent, respectively, since 2011.

Data, monitoring and accountability

From 2016 to 2018, the extent to which development cooperation providers used country-owned results frameworks and planning tools in the design and monitoring of new development projects decreased from 64 per cent to 62 per cent on average. Multilateral providers use the frameworks and planning tools for those purposes to a larger extent than bilateral providers (66 per cent compared to 57 per cent).

Of 114 countries and territories providing or receiving development cooperation, fewer than half (56 countries and territories) reported overall progress in 2018 towards strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships for development with a view to achieving the Goals.

In 2020, 122 Member States reported having national statistical legislation that was compliant with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. The proportions of compliant Member States exceed 40 per cent for almost all regions and country groups, except for the least developed countries, which also experienced their fastest progress before 2020. Nevertheless, 2020 was the year in which the least progress was made since 2015.

Also in 2020, 132 countries and territories reported implementing a national statistical plan, with 84 having fully funded plans. Only 4 out of 46 (8 per cent) of the least developed countries reported having fully funded national statistical plans. Countries and territories could face more difficulties in implementing and funding national statistical plans owing to rescheduled and costly activities, such as census and household surveys, that were postponed until 2021 because of the pandemic.

ODA for data and statistics increased from $591 million in 2015 to $693 million in 2018. Almost every region received more support in 2017 and 2018 than from 2015 to 2016. Despite the progress made in the first four years, the trend of support for data and statistics may be reaching a bottleneck, as nowcasts indicated that there was no significant increase in 2019. While the need for reliable data continues to increase, including to address and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, many countries and territories still lack the resources to produce reliable data.

For the period 2015–2019, 146 countries and territories have birth registration data that are at least 90 per cent complete and 151 countries and territories have death registration data that are at least 75 per cent complete. Therefore, about 60 per cent of countries and territories worldwide meet both criteria. In sub-Saharan Africa, additional countries and territories have birth and death registration data compared to the previous reporting period, increasing from 28 to 29 countries and territories for birth registration and from 53 to 55 countries and territories for death registration.

Source: Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals – E/2021/58

Strengthening global partnerships and enhancing the means of implementing the Goals have remained a challenge owing to scarce financial resources, trade tensions, technological obstacles and a lack of The pandemic is adding hardships to the implementation of the Goals. As COVID-19 continues to spread, global financial markets have experienced great losses and intense volatility, and more than

$100 billion in capital has flowed out of emerging markets since the outbreak, the largest outflow ever recorded. World trade is expected to plunge by between 13 and 32 per cent in 2020. Strengthening multilateralism and global partnerships is more important than ever before. The global nature of the pandemic requires the participation of all governments, the private sector, civil society organizations and people throughout the world.

Finance

Net ODA flows totalled $147 billion in 2019, nearly the same level as in 2018, but with an increased share going to the neediest countries. Bilateral ODA to lea st developed countries rose by 3 per cent in real terms since 2018, with aid to Africa rising by 1 per cent, but humanitarian aid fell by 3 per

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows continued to slide, falling by 13 per cent, from a revised $1.5 trillion in 2017 to $1.3 trillion in The decline, the third consecutive annual decrease in FDI, was mainly a result of large repatriations of accumulated foreign earnings by multinational enterprises following tax reforms introduced at the end of 2017. It is projected that the pandemic may cause global FDI to shrink by 30 to 40 per cent in the period 2020 –2022.

Remittance flows to lower-middle-income countries are estimated to have reached

$554 billion in 2019, exceeding official aid by a factor of three since the mid-1990s. In 2019, remittances overtook FDI flows to lower-middle-income countries, according to estimates. However, growth in remittance flows slowed to 4.7 per cent in 2019, compared with a robust 8.6 per cent in 2018. Global remittances are projected to fall to

$445 billion, or by 20 per cent, in 2020 owing to the pandemic.

Globally, government revenue accounted for approximately 30 per cent of GDP in 2018, remaining stable compared with previous years, but with wide variation among countries. The average overall tax burden (revenue in the form of taxes) was 25 per cent of GDP among advanced economies and 17 per cent of GDP among emerging markets and developing economies. The overall average of the proportion of government expenditure funded by taxes was about 65 per cent among advanced economies and 60 per cent among emerging market

Information and communications technology

More than half of the world’s population is now At the end of 2019, 53.6 per cent of individuals, or 4.1 billion persons, were using the Internet, ranging from only 20 per cent in Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand) and 26 per cent in sub-Saharan African to 84 per cent in Europe and Northern America and 87 per cent in Australia and New Zealand.

Fixed broadband subscriptions are increasing Globally, there were nearly 15 fixed broadband subscriptions for every 100 inhabitants in 2019, ranging from 33.6 in developed countries to only 11.2 in developing countries. In least developed countries, owing to the high cost and lack of infrastructure, there were nearly no fixed broadband connections. From a health, economic and social perspective, this digital divide is costing developing countries and their peo ples dearly during the pandemic.

Capacity-building

Total ODA for capacity-building and national planning stood at $33.5 billion in 2017, representing 14 per cent of total sector allocable aid, stable since The main sectors assisted were public administration, energy and finance, which received a total of $13.0 billion.

Trade

Trade-weighted tariffs worldwide declined, from 2 per cent in 2017 to an average of 2.1 per cent in 2018.

The share of exports of least developed countries in global merchandise trade remained marginal, at just over 1 per cent in Growth in global exports of least developed countries stagnated over the past decade, missing the target of doubling the share of global exports of least developed countries by 2020 from 2011. In 2018, least developed countries recorded significant year-on-year growth in services exports, reaching a global share of 0.8 per cent. The share of global services exports of developing regions has flattened in past years, amounting to a share of 30 per cent at the end of 2018.

Data, monitoring and accountability

In 2019, 132 countries reported having national statistical legislation that was compliant with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, up from 111 countries in

In 2019, 141 countries reported having implemented a national statistical plan, up from 129 countries in Although it had the second highest number of countries (36) implementing national statistical plans, sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest percentage of fully funded plans, with only 25 per cent of plans fully funded, compared with 95 per cent in Northern America and Europe.

In 2017, countries received $689 million in support from multilateral and bilateral donors for all areas of statistics, up from $623 million in However, that amount accounted for only 0.34 per cent of total ODA. International funding for data and statistics was at only around half the level at which it needed to be.

In the period 2014–2018, 147 countries had birth registration data that were at least 90 per cent complete, and 153 countries had death registration data that were at least 75 per cent In sub-Saharan Africa, 28 of 53 countries had birth registration data, and only 23 of 53 countries had death registration data.

Source: Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, Report of the Secretary-General, https://undocs.org/en/E/2020/57

Progress on some means of implementation targets is moving rapidly: personal remittances are at an all-time high, an increasing proportion of the global population has access to the Internet and the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries has been established. Yet, significant challenges remain: ODA is declining, private investment flows are not well aligned with sustainable development, there continues to be a significant digital divide and there are ongoing trade tensions. Enhanced international cooperation is needed to ensure that sufficient means of implementation exist to provide countries the opportunity to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Finance

• Net ODA flows totalled $149 billion in 2018, down 2.7 per cent in real terms from 2017, with a declining share going to the neediest countries. Bilateral ODA to least developed countries fell by 3 per cent in real terms from 2017, aid to Africa fell by 4 per cent, and humanitarian aid fell by 8 per cent.
• In 2019, annual remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are projected to reach $550 billion. That would make remittance flows larger than foreign direct investment and ODA flows to low- and middle-income countries. In 2018, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries reached $529 billion, an increase of 9.6 per cent over 2017.
• The average overall rate of taxation among the Group of 20 and other advanced economies was around 23 per cent of GDP in 2018, compared with 18 per cent among the developing and emerging market economies. Assessing an appropriate level of “tax burden” (revenue in the form of taxes) is a critical element of fiscal policy with implications for economic growth.

Information and communications technology

• At the end of 2018, more than half the world’s population (3.9 billion people) had access to the Internet – a step towards a more inclusive global information society. Over 80 per cent in developed countries were online in 2018, compared with 45 per cent in developing countries and only 20 per cent in least developed countries.

Capacity-building

• Total ODA for capacity-building and national planning stood at $33.5 billion in 2017, representing 14 per cent of total sector-allocable aid – a level that has been stable since 2010. The main sectors assisted were public administration, energy and the financial sector, which received a combined total of $13.0 billion. Latin America and the Caribbean enjoyed the largest share of aid at $7.6 billion, followed by sub-Saharan Africa ($6.1 billion) and South Asia ($5.0 billion).

Trade

• Decreasing tariffs applied worldwide provide wider access to goods and contribute to a more open trading system. In 2017, trade-weighted tariffs decreased to an average of 2.2 per cent worldwide, but there still remain large differences at the regional level that reflect global economic imbalances. The highest average tariff rates in 2017 were applied across African regions. In 2018, doubt was cast over the future of a sound multilateral trading system under WTO, as there were significant trade tensions among large economies.
• Despite a slight upturn in 2017, the share of least developed countries in world merchandise exports remains just below 1 per cent. The slow growth could lead to missing the trade target set by the Istanbul Programme of Action – to double the least developed countries’ share of global exports by 2020. The exports from least developed countries will have to grow approximately four times faster than global exports to see their share doubled in two years.
• Preferential tariffs applied to imports from the least developed countries and developing countries in the developed markets remained unchanged in 2017. While the clothing sector continued to be strongly protected in these markets, the exports from least developed countries benefited from the high preferential margins – 5.9 percentage points – in this sector.

Systemic issues

• Bilateral development partners’ respect for country policies declined from 64 per cent in 2016 to 57 per cent in 2018. Some 76 per cent of new development projects and programmes aligned their objectives to those defined in the country strategies and/or plans in 2018. However, only around half of result indicators – 52 per cent – for these interventions were drawn from country-owned result frameworks and only 44 per cent of result indicators were monitored using data and statistics from government monitoring systems.
• In 2018, 51 of 114 countries reported overall progress towards strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships and the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Improvements were reported with regard to the quality and use of public financial management and reporting systems for development cooperation activities and flows channelled through the public sector. There was a need to increase the space for civil society’s contribution to sustainable development and for a more inclusive and relevant dialogue between the public and private sectors.

Data, monitoring and accountability

• In 2018, 111 countries had national statistical legislation that was compliant with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, up from 71 countries in 2017. Entrusted with the production of official statistics, national statistical offices need to comply with strict international principles, including scientific methods, professional ethics and standard procedures for the collection, processing, storage and presentation of statistical data.
• In 2016, countries received $623 million in support from multilateral and bilateral donors for all areas of statistics, up from $591 million in 2015. However, this amount accounts for only 0.33 per cent of total ODA. Over the past four years, countries in sub-Saharan Africa benefited most ($932 million), followed by Central and South Asia ($180 million) and Latin America and the Caribbean ($177 million). For developing countries to meet the data needs of the Sustainable Development Goals, current donor support for data and statistics will need to increase by nearly $200 million per year.
• Population and housing censuses are a primary source of the disaggregated data needed to formulate, implement and monitor development policies and programmes. During the 10-year period from 2008 to 2017, 89 per cent of countries or areas around the world conducted at least one population and housing census.
• The coverage of birth and death registration and the completeness of vital statistics remain a challenge, even among countries with functioning civil registration systems. During the period 2013-2017, 143 countries had birth registration data that were at least 90 per cent complete and 149 countries had death registration data that were at least 75 per cent complete. However, only 9 of 53 sub-Saharan African countries met these standards.

Source: Report of the Secretary-General, Special edition: progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals

• Achieving the ambitious targets of the 2030 Agenda requires a revitalized and enhanced global partnership that brings together Governments, civil society, the private sector, the United Nations system and other actors and mobilizes all available resources. Enhancing support to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and the small island developing States, is fundamental to equitable progress for all.

Finance

• In 2015, net ODA from member countries of the Development Assistance Committee of OECD totalled $131.6 billion. Taking account of inflation and the rise in the value of the dollar in 2015, this was 6.9 per cent higher in real terms than in 2014, and represented the highest level ever reached. Total ODA from those countries as a share of their gross national income was 0.30 per cent, on par with 2014. Most of the increase was owing to higher expenditures for costs associated with refugees. However, even if those costs are excluded, ODA still rose by 1.7 per cent. Seven countries met the United Nations target for ODA of 0.7 per cent of gross national income in 2015: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Information and communications technology

• Fixed-broadband services remain largely unaffordable and unavailable across much of the population in developing regions, highlighting digital divides in access to high-speed, high-capacity Internet services. By 2015, fixed-broadband penetration had reached 29 per cent in developed regions, but only 7.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, in developing regions and the least developed countries. Major disparities are also found in Internet use. In developing regions, one third of the population is online versus 1 in 10 people in the least developed countries. Data also reveal that more men than women are online. In 2015, globally, the Internet user penetration rate was about 11 per cent lower for women than for men. The gender gap is even higher in developing regions (15 per cent) and highest in the least developed countries (29 per cent).

Capacity-building

• Net ODA for capacity-building and national planning amounted to $23 billion in 2014; of that total, sub-Saharan Africa received $6 billion and Southern and Central Asia received $4.6 billion. The main sectors receiving assistance were public administration, environment and energy, which together were allocated a total of $9.3 billion.

Trade

• The weighted average of applied tariffs has been decreasing over time, but still varies widely across regions and country groups on main product sectors. Average agricultural tariffs on imports coming into Asia, for instance, are the highest in the world, at around 27 per cent for Southern Asia and 20 per cent for Eastern Asia in 2015, under most-favoured nation status.
• In 14 years, the least developed countries’ share in world merchandise exports nearly doubled, from 0.6 per cent in 2000 to 1.1 per cent in 2014. The key driver of export growth during that period was a massive rise in the price of fuel, ores and metals, reflecting a high demand in developing countries, notably China. In services, the least developed countries increased their share of world exports to 0.8 per cent in 2014 ($40 billion), up from 0.5 per cent in 2005.

• Data, monitoring and accountability

   

  • The requirements of the indicators developed in the context of the Millennium Development Goals have fostered stronger national statistical plans and systems. The number of countries with a national statistical plan increased in some regions between 2010 and 2015, including in sub-Saharan Africa and the least developed countries. However, the overall number of plans declined from 56 to 54 among the countries being observed, since the time period of some existing plans expired.
  • Financial support for statistical capacity amounted to $325 million in 2013, compared with $379 million in 2010. However, assistance to the least developed countries, in this regard, tripled during the period and reached $265 million. Despite an increasing awareness of the importance of statistics for evidence-based policymaking and development, the share of ODA dedicated to statistics hovered at around 0.3 per cent between 2010 and 2013.
  • Population and housing censuses are a primary source of the disaggregated data needed for formulating, implementing and monitoring development policies and programmes. During the 10-year period spanning from 2006 to 2015, 90 per cent of countries or areas around the world conducted at least one population and housing census.
  • Over the period 2005-2014, birth registration data were available for 183 out of 230 countries or areas, whereas death registration data were available for 157. Only 58 per cent of developing countries with available data have birth registration coverage of 90 per cent or more; 71 per cent of developing countries with available data have death registration coverage of 75 per cent or more. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest levels of complete birth and death registration.

   

  Source: Report of the Secretary-General, "Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals", E/2016/75

• Achieving the ambitious targets of the 2030 Agenda requires a revitalized and enhanced global partnership that brings together Governments, civil society, the private sector, the United Nations system and other actors and mobilizes all available resources. Enhancing support to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and the small island developing States, is fundamental to equitable progress for all.

Finance

• In 2015, net ODA from member countries of the Development Assistance Committee of OECD totalled $131.6 billion. Taking account of inflation and the rise in the value of the dollar in 2015, this was 6.9 per cent higher in real terms than in 2014, and represented the highest level ever reached. Total ODA from those countries as a share of their gross national income was 0.30 per cent, on par with 2014. Most of the increase was owing to higher expenditures for costs associated with refugees. However, even if those costs are excluded, ODA still rose by 1.7 per cent. Seven countries met the United Nations target for ODA of 0.7 per cent of gross national income in 2015: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Information and communications technology

• Fixed-broadband services remain largely unaffordable and unavailable across much of the population in developing regions, highlighting digital divides in access to high-speed, high-capacity Internet services. By 2015, fixed-broadband penetration had reached 29 per cent in developed regions, but only 7.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, in developing regions and the least developed countries. Major disparities are also found in Internet use. In developing regions, one third of the population is online versus 1 in 10 people in the least developed countries. Data also reveal that more men than women are online. In 2015, globally, the Internet user penetration rate was about 11 per cent lower for women than for men. The gender gap is even higher in developing regions (15 per cent) and highest in the least developed countries (29 per cent).

Capacity-building

• Net ODA for capacity-building and national planning amounted to $23 billion in 2014; of that total, sub-Saharan Africa received $6 billion and Southern and Central Asia received $4.6 billion. The main sectors receiving assistance were public administration, environment and energy, which together were allocated a total of $9.3 billion.

Trade

• The weighted average of applied tariffs has been decreasing over time, but still varies widely across regions and country groups on main product sectors. Average agricultural tariffs on imports coming into Asia, for instance, are the highest in the world, at around 27 per cent for Southern Asia and 20 per cent for Eastern Asia in 2015, under most-favoured nation status.
• In 14 years, the least developed countries’ share in world merchandise exports nearly doubled, from 0.6 per cent in 2000 to 1.1 per cent in 2014. The key driver of export growth during that period was a massive rise in the price of fuel, ores and metals, reflecting a high demand in developing countries, notably China. In services, the least developed countries increased their share of world exports to 0.8 per cent in 2014 ($40 billion), up from 0.5 per cent in 2005.

• Data, monitoring and accountability

   

  • The requirements of the indicators developed in the context of the Millennium Development Goals have fostered stronger national statistical plans and systems. The number of countries with a national statistical plan increased in some regions between 2010 and 2015, including in sub-Saharan Africa and the least developed countries. However, the overall number of plans declined from 56 to 54 among the countries being observed, since the time period of some existing plans expired.
  • Financial support for statistical capacity amounted to $325 million in 2013, compared with $379 million in 2010. However, assistance to the least developed countries, in this regard, tripled during the period and reached $265 million. Despite an increasing awareness of the importance of statistics for evidence-based policymaking and development, the share of ODA dedicated to statistics hovered at around 0.3 per cent between 2010 and 2013.
  • Population and housing censuses are a primary source of the disaggregated data needed for formulating, implementing and monitoring development policies and programmes. During the 10-year period spanning from 2006 to 2015, 90 per cent of countries or areas around the world conducted at least one population and housing census.
  • Over the period 2005-2014, birth registration data were available for 183 out of 230 countries or areas, whereas death registration data were available for 157. Only 58 per cent of developing countries with available data have birth registration coverage of 90 per cent or more; 71 per cent of developing countries with available data have death registration coverage of 75 per cent or more. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest levels of complete birth and death registration.

   

  Source: Report of the Secretary-General, "Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals", E/2016/75

• Achieving the ambitious targets of the 2030 Agenda requires a revitalized and enhanced global partnership that brings together Governments, civil society, the private sector, the United Nations system and other actors and mobilizes all available resources. Enhancing support to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and the small island developing States, is fundamental to equitable progress for all.

Finance

• In 2015, net ODA from member countries of the Development Assistance Committee of OECD totalled $131.6 billion. Taking account of inflation and the rise in the value of the dollar in 2015, this was 6.9 per cent higher in real terms than in 2014, and represented the highest level ever reached. Total ODA from those countries as a share of their gross national income was 0.30 per cent, on par with 2014. Most of the increase was owing to higher expenditures for costs associated with refugees. However, even if those costs are excluded, ODA still rose by 1.7 per cent. Seven countries met the United Nations target for ODA of 0.7 per cent of gross national income in 2015: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Information and communications technology

• Fixed-broadband services remain largely unaffordable and unavailable across much of the population in developing regions, highlighting digital divides in access to high-speed, high-capacity Internet services. By 2015, fixed-broadband penetration had reached 29 per cent in developed regions, but only 7.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, in developing regions and the least developed countries. Major disparities are also found in Internet use. In developing regions, one third of the population is online versus 1 in 10 people in the least developed countries. Data also reveal that more men than women are online. In 2015, globally, the Internet user penetration rate was about 11 per cent lower for women than for men. The gender gap is even higher in developing regions (15 per cent) and highest in the least developed countries (29 per cent).

Capacity-building

• Net ODA for capacity-building and national planning amounted to $23 billion in 2014; of that total, sub-Saharan Africa received $6 billion and Southern and Central Asia received $4.6 billion. The main sectors receiving assistance were public administration, environment and energy, which together were allocated a total of $9.3 billion.

Trade

• The weighted average of applied tariffs has been decreasing over time, but still varies widely across regions and country groups on main product sectors. Average agricultural tariffs on imports coming into Asia, for instance, are the highest in the world, at around 27 per cent for Southern Asia and 20 per cent for Eastern Asia in 2015, under most-favoured nation status.
• In 14 years, the least developed countries’ share in world merchandise exports nearly doubled, from 0.6 per cent in 2000 to 1.1 per cent in 2014. The key driver of export growth during that period was a massive rise in the price of fuel, ores and metals, reflecting a high demand in developing countries, notably China. In services, the least developed countries increased their share of world exports to 0.8 per cent in 2014 ($40 billion), up from 0.5 per cent in 2005.

• Data, monitoring and accountability

   

  • The requirements of the indicators developed in the context of the Millennium Development Goals have fostered stronger national statistical plans and systems. The number of countries with a national statistical plan increased in some regions between 2010 and 2015, including in sub-Saharan Africa and the least developed countries. However, the overall number of plans declined from 56 to 54 among the countries being observed, since the time period of some existing plans expired.
  • Financial support for statistical capacity amounted to $325 million in 2013, compared with $379 million in 2010. However, assistance to the least developed countries, in this regard, tripled during the period and reached $265 million. Despite an increasing awareness of the importance of statistics for evidence-based policymaking and development, the share of ODA dedicated to statistics hovered at around 0.3 per cent between 2010 and 2013.
  • Population and housing censuses are a primary source of the disaggregated data needed for formulating, implementing and monitoring development policies and programmes. During the 10-year period spanning from 2006 to 2015, 90 per cent of countries or areas around the world conducted at least one population and housing census.
  • Over the period 2005-2014, birth registration data were available for 183 out of 230 countries or areas, whereas death registration data were available for 157. Only 58 per cent of developing countries with available data have birth registration coverage of 90 per cent or more; 71 per cent of developing countries with available data have death registration coverage of 75 per cent or more. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest levels of complete birth and death registration.

   

  Source: Report of the Secretary-General, "Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals", E/2016/75