Prioritizing sustainable development goals in China based on a comprehensive assessment accounting for indicator interlinkages

Jingru Zong; Yike Zhang; Xuejie Mu; Lingli Wang; Chunyu Lu; Yajie Du; Xiaokang Ji; Qing Wang

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22751

Prioritizing sustainable development goals in China based on a comprehensive assessment accounting for indicator interlinkages

Heliyon. 2023 Nov 23;9(12):e22751. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22751. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Jingru Zong^{1

2

3}, Yike Zhang^{1

2}, Xuejie Mu⁴, Lingli Wang^{1

2}, Chunyu Lu^{1

2}, Yajie Du^{1

2}, Xiaokang Ji^{1

2}, Qing Wang^{1

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
² National Institute of Health Data Science of China, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.
³ Health Supervision and Law Enforcement Bureau of Zibo City, Zibo, Shandong 255000, China.
⁴ Department of Mathematics, College of Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
⁵ Yellow River National Strategic Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China.

Abstract

Prioritizing areas and targets, coordinated with development gaps, is necessary to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the face of resource limitations resulting from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The SDG interlinkages further exacerbate the difficulty inherent in addressing these goals. However, previous studies failed to consider the indicator interlinkages in the process of aggregate performance assessments and thus cannot identify priorities based on indicator interlinkages and development gaps. This study integrated network analysis and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to convert indicator interlinkages into indicator weights and then assessed the aggregate performance of the SDGs. Subsequently, the prioritized provinces and indicators were identified at the subnational level of China based on the aggregate performance of the SDGs, SDG growth rate and indicator interlinkages. The per capita net income of rural residents (2.3.2), the proportion of people living below 50% of the median income (10.2.1), and the under-five mortality rate (3.2.1) were the most contributing indicators to the aggregate performance of the SDGs, while the common challenges dealt with SDG 16, SDG 6, SDG 7 and SDG 12. Moreover, accelerating the development of western provinces would make it possible to overcome the traditional imbalance status, while resource-driven provinces should be paid special attention due to their poor aggregate performance of the SDGs and their lower growth rate. Thus, a coordinating strategy is highly recommended for allocating resources to the priority targets and finally achieving the SDGs.

Keywords: China; Development gap; Imbalance; Interlinkages; Priorities; Sustainable development goals.