Measuring Progress 2026 - Society Index

The Society Index is computed by combining 8 SDGs to capture the theme of social inclusion.  The 8 SDGs that are included in the society index are: no poverty (SDG 1), zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and wellbeing (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), reduced inequality (SDG 10), peace and justice (SDG 16) and partnership for the goals (SDG 17).Overall, Ireland’s scores puts it in 5^th place in the rankings.  Strong performance on several SDGs impacts the overall score, in particular, the education theme, (SDG 4), peace and justice goals (SDG 16), reduced inequalities (SDG 10) and good health and wellbeing (SDG 3). 

SDG 1 pleads for an end to poverty in all its manifestations.  It aims to ensure peoples’ basic needs are met, by focusing on equal rights and access to economic and natural resources, including technology, property and basic financial services.

Monitoring SDG 1 in the EU context involves tracking aspects related to multidimensional poverty and basic needs.  The EU’s situation regarding SDG 1 has generally improved.  However, “more needs to be done to meet the EU’s multidimensional target of lifting at least 15 million people out of poverty or social exclusion by 2030” (Eurostat, 2025, p. 10).

Our analysis of SDG 1 is constructed using 3 indicators; one from the OECD, and two taken from Eurostat.  They are chosen to reflect the broad objectives and ambitions of the goal (we exclude some of the less relevant UN indicator variables that capture extreme poverty, such as the poverty headcount ratio at $1.90/day, percentage of the population).  Our indicators are: the poverty rate (the share of the population whose incomes fall below half the median disposable income for the entire population after taxes and social transfers – this is closely aligned with the UN indicator);  severely materially deprived people (percentage of the population);  and low-work intensity households.  Ireland scores well on the poverty rate measure (4^th place) and latest data from Eurostat indicate there are improvements on this measure relative to our EU peers.

Overall, Ireland’s position on SDG 1 is relatively good and it is ranked in joint 4^th place with Austria.  Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden top the list.

SDG 1: Rank = 4 (joint) 

SDG 2 is concerned with food security, the eradication of hunger, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture.  Many of the official indicators under this goal are more applicable to developing countries.  Food security, in terms of sufficiency and supply, is generally not considered a major concern for the EU countries, but malnutrition problems are evident.  Achieving healthy diets and ensuring agricultural systems remain productive and sustainable are the key challenges associated with this goal in the EU.

At EU level, including Ireland, trends in the area of malnutrition remain unfavourable, with a clear increase in the share of obese people in the EU since 2014 (Eurostat, 2023, p.14).  Furthermore, latest data suggest no progress has been made, with the share of obese people in the EU stagnating.  Obesity in Ireland is one of the highest among the EU14, according to the latest available data, with almost 20 per cent of the population categorised as obese.

The sustainability of agriculture and ensuring long-term productivity are also key elements of SDG 2. Four indicators are used to reflect this part of SDG 2:  cereal yield efficiency;  the extent of organic farming;  ammonia emissions from agriculture;  and a measure of pesticide use. 

At just under 5 per cent, Ireland’s organic farming share of the total utilised agricultural area (UAA) is well below the EU average:  it scores lowest of the EU14 on this indicator.  On the plus side, Ireland scores high (second place) on the cereal yield indicator, although the ranking on the ammonia emissions and pesticide is much less favourable.  Combining all 5 selected indicators for this goal gives Ireland a ranking of 12^th place.  

SDG 2: Rank = 12

SDG 3 focuses on improving healthy lives and promoting wellbeing of all ages by improving reproductive, maternal and child health;  ending epidemics of major communicable diseases;  and reducing non-communicable and mental diseases.  It also focuses on reducing behavioural and environmental health-risk factors.  Hence, in addition to indicators like life expectancy, maternal and neo-natal mortality rates, subjective wellbeing measure, etc., indicators such as death due to chronic diseases, and the incidence of smoking are included under this SDG.  

At the EU level, data shows both positive and negative developments.  “While the EU’s healthy life expectancy was on the rise until 2019, it fell below pre-pandemic levels in 2021.  People’s self-perceived health has also declined recently” (Eurostat, 2025, p.10).  Furthermore, there has been a strong rise in the share of people reporting unmet needs for medical care, mainly because of increasingly long waiting lists.  

A more expansive range of data is available at EU level to reflect this SDG compared to others.   We compute SDG 3 using 8 indicators, many from the Eurostat database.  We exclude indicators that are more relevant to developing countries.  Ireland’s indicator scores put it in 6^th place overall. Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands score highest, respectively.

SDG 3: Rank = 6

The aim of SDG 4 is to ensure access to equitable and quality education through all stages of life.  It focuses on increasing the number of youth and adults with employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, and advocates for life-long learning.  It also aims to eliminate gender and income disparities in access to education.

Education is seen as key in meeting other SDGs;  it aims at reducing poverty, inequality, gender inequality and contributes to growth, employment, productivity, innovation, competitiveness and healthier lifestyles (Eurostat, 2017, p 89).

Our 6 indicators used to compute SDG 4 reflect education at all levels of life.  Ireland scores high on several indicators:  Ireland is ranked first on the share of the population aged 25 to 34 that have completed tertiary or equivalent education (a measure of Third Level outcomes) and first on the PISA[1] score (a measure of Second Level outcomes).  Ireland also does well on the early-leavers indicator and an indicator capturing childhood education.  We also do well on a new Eurostat indicator capturing the extent of basic digital skills in the population.  We do less well in one area in particular:  adult learning – which is used to reflect life-long learning.  Overall however, the strong performance of several measures means that Ireland scores very well on this SDG and is ranked in second place overall.

SDG 4: Rank = 2

[1] The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment of ‎the skills and knowledge of 15-year-olds.PISA ‎assesses students' performance on reading, maths and science.

SDG 5 aims at ending all forms of discrimination, violence and any harmful practices against women and girls. It calls for equal rights, recognition and equal opportunities of leadership at all levels of political and economic decision making.

Our analysis of SDG 5 is computed using 5 indicators, mainly drawn from the Eurostat database.  At EU level, SDG 5 shows a quite favourable picture in most of the areas monitored, including the gender employment gap, and the proportion of women in parliament and in senior management positions in organisations.  However, despite these improvements, “more efforts are needed to reach gender parity in the labour market and in leadership positions” (Eurostat, 2025, p.12).

We see a somewhat mixed performance for Ireland based on the selected indicators.  The data shows that we are still below the EU average on the measure of the share of women in national parliament (13^th place) but perform better on the indicator of women in senior management roles (4^th place).  The employment gap indicator also puts Ireland at the lower end of the ranking, as many more women than men still remain economically inactive due to caring responsibilities.

The gender pay gap has narrowed slightly over the years in the EU but remains about 12 per cent.  The latest data for Ireland puts the gap at 8.6 per cent, which is below the EU average.  Also on a positive note, Ireland is ranked first on the female education indicator (female education as a percentage of male education).

Overall, Ireland is ranked in 8^th place on this SDG indicating there is some scope for improvement. Finland, Sweden and Denmark are the highest ranked countries.

SDG 5 Rank = 8

SDG 10 aims at reducing disparities in terms of income, sex, age, disability, race, class, ethnicity, and religion, within and among countries. 

Trends regarding inequalities in the EU reveal a favourable picture over the years with data suggesting significant progress towards SDG 10 ‘Reduced inequalities’:  “Income inequalities within countries have reduced, as the income gap between richer and poorer population groups has diminished” (Eurostat, 2025, p.13).

SDG 10 draws on 3 indicators to capture the theme of this goal.  We use the latest WHO data to reflect the GINI index and a measure of the share of the bottom 40 per cent of income from Eurostat.  We also include a measure of household debt (as percentage of NDI) to capture the extent that households struggle with financial debt.  The Netherlands, Denmark and Luxembourg are the worst performing countries on this indicator while Ireland scores highly on the measure.  Overall, our selected indicators give a goal score that puts Ireland in the middle of the rankings for this SDG with a place of joint 5^th.

SDG 10: Rank = 5 (joint) 

SDG 16 seeks to promote a peaceful and inclusive society for sustainability, supported by human rights, protection of the most vulnerable, access to justice, and secure governance. 

A more expansive range of data is available to reflect this SDG compared to others.  We use 8 indicators to reflect and assess the theme of SDG 16.  The theme of peace and personal security is captured by indicators of homicides, occurrence of crime/violence/vandalism, the effectiveness of crime control, and proportion of prisoners in the population.  The theme of access to justice and strong institutions is measured by:  an indicator of confidence in the judicial system (Eurostat);  the perception of corruption (Transparency International);  and the number of unsentenced detainees (as a percentage of the population – an official UN indicator).  Eurostat has added a  new indicator on trafficking in human beings to its dataset and it is included here.  At EU level, they note that there has been a rise in trafficking for sexual or labour exploitation in the EU since 2018. 

Overall, the EU’s progress towards SDG 16 ‘Peace, justice and strong institutions’ has slowed somewhat in recent years and shows a mixed picture in the different areas.  However, the data paint a favourable picture for Ireland:  it is a relatively safe society with a low number of deaths associated with homicide or assault, and a lower perceived occurrence of crime, violence and vandalism, and we score well on the trafficking indicator.  We conclude Ireland is doing well on this SDG relative to our peers based on the selected indicators, with an overall rank of 2.

SDG 16: Rank = 2

A strong commitment to global partnership and cooperation is critical for the achievement of Agenda 2030.  This is the aim SDG 17, which focuses on the global macro-economy to ensure an open universal multilateral trading system for sustainable development under the WTO.  Global partnership and cooperation with developing countries can promote and develop sustained economic activity, which aids in achieving the targets of the 2030 Agenda.  

The EU has focused on global partnership and financial governance within the EU to reflect SDG 17.  Most recent data shows a mixed picture for this SDG.  They note that “EU financing to developing countries has increased, and the EU moved closer to the target of raising its official development assistance (ODA) to 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI) by 2030” which is favourable (Eurostat, 2025, p.14).  Access to technology has also improved for EU households.  However, government debt to GDP ratios  remained above pre-pandemic levels in 2024 for most countries, and the already low share of environmental taxes in total tax revenues declined even further and reached a new low in 2023 (Eurostat, 2025, p.14). 

We use 4 indicators to reflect SDG 17.  Ireland’s contribution to Overseas Development Aid (ODA) at 0.67 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) in 2024, has improved slightly since 2023.  Data for our second indicator comes from Eurostat;  the share of environmental taxes as a proportion of revenue. Ireland is just below the European average on this indicator and is ranked 11^th in our sample.  To capture the theme of financial governance, we include an indicator of General Government Gross Debt.  This indicator is important as the EU stipulates that EU countries’ debt levels should not exceed 60 per cent of GDP.  Ireland’s debt has fallen over the years and at 38.3 per cent of GDP in 2024, is well below the EU27 average of 80.7 per cent.  However, Ireland’s performance on the final indicator, which measures expenditure on health and education as a percentage of GDP, shows Ireland in 14^th place on this indicator.  

Combining our indicators, Ireland is ranked 8^th overall.  We need to interpret the ranking of SDG 17 with some caution.  Lack of data means the indicators do not necessarily capture the key aims of the SDG.  Better quality data is required to fully capture the theme of this goal.

SDG 17: Rank = 8