Rich countries are not ready as SDG models: Study
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New York (dpa) - Most of the world's richest countries are no where near achieving the new UN development goals that will soon be set for the next 15 years, making it hard for them to serve as models for less developed countries, according to a study pub
The comparative study conducted by the German Bertelsmann Foundation warned that several of the world's 34 most industrialised countries are in danger of entirely missing certain targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will be adopted by world leaders at the end of September.
The SDGs contain 17 goals with 169 specific targets to be met globally by 2030. They include eradication of extreme poverty, fighting inequality and injustice, stopping climate change, providing quality education to all and achieving economic growth.
The study found that the countries best positioned to meet the goals are Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Switzerland. The nations on the bottom of the 34-country list are the United States, Greece, Chile, Hungary, Turkey and Mexico.
While countries differ in what areas they lag behind in, the study found that many have large inequality gaps, which the SDGs aim to close. In 23 countries surveyed, the richest 10 per cent of the society make at least as much money as the poorest 40 per cent.
In the US, the richest 10 per cent make 1.7 times more than the poorest 40 per cent.
Developed nations also often lag behind on measures to decrease environmental pollution and increase the share of renewable energy sources.
For example, the share of renewable energy in South Korea, Britain and the Netherlands is less than 4 per cent. In comparison, the share of renewables in Iceland, Norway and Sweden is almost 50 per cent.
Aart De Geus, chairman of Bertelsmann Foundation, called the study "the first stress test" of the targets for rich nations.
"We in the rich nations, with our growing social inequality and wasteful use of resources, can no longer present ourselves as the world's teachers," De Geus said.
"The analysis shows us where we, too, have to do our homework."
In the foreword of the report, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, who was a driving force behind the first set of global development benchmarks, the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), said he hoped the study would "spark reform debates" in rich countries.
The MDGs were a list of eight goals set in 2000 to be met by 2015. They included goals such as reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combatting diseases including HIV and Malaria.
