Sustainable Progress Index 2025: Society

The Sustainable Progress Index 2025 comprises of three dimensions, economy, society and environment. Ireland is ranked 6^th out of 14 comparable EU countries on the society index. We score highly on goals relating to education (Ireland ranks in 1^st place), peace and justice (we come 4^th in the ranking); good health and wellbeing (3^rd place) and reduced inequalities (5^th place). We score less well on goals reflecting poverty and gender equality.

The Society Index is constructed by combining 8 SDGs  (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 16 and 17). The overall score and country ranking are presented in the accompanying table. Ireland is in 6^th place overall. Our relatively favourable position is driven by strong performance particularly on the education theme, (SDG4), and good performance on peace and justice goals (SDG16) and good health and wellbeing (SDG3).

SDG 1 ‘No poverty’

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

In the EU context, monitoring SDG1 involves tracking aspects related to multidimensional poverty and basic needs. In recent years, the EU’s situation has improved for most indicators under this goal (Eurostat, 2024, p.12).  As the focus of our analysis is the EU14 countries (with broadly similar levels of development), 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). We use 4 indicators to reflect SDG1: 3 from Eurostat (severely materially deprived people (percentage of the population),  low-work intensity households, and the housing overburden rate (40% of income)[1]; and 1 from the OECD (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). 

Ireland is half-way in the ranking when we combine all other indicators. Finland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands top the list.

[1] OECD proposes that households that spend more than 40 per cent of disposable income on housing are considered “overburdened” (OECD, 2019).  Compared to other countries, Ireland does relatively well on this indicator, although the data does not reflect the current crisis.

SDG 2 ‘No hunger’

Food security and the eradication of hunger are the main concerns of SDG 2. Many of the official indicators under this goal are more applicable to developing countries. In terms of sufficiency and supply, there are no major issues about food security within the EU region. Hence, the monitoring of SDG2 focuses on malnutrition (in particular, achieving healthy diets) as well as on the sustainability of agricultural production and its environmental impacts.

Consumption patterns and lifestyles have changed in the EU, including in Ireland, and obesity is on the rise with implications for people’s quality of life and resourcing the health care system. Obesity in Ireland is the highest among the sample of countries here, according to the most recent Eurostat data. Almost 20% of the population are categorized as obese.

SDG2 is also concerned with ensuring long-term productivity and the sustainability of agriculture. We use 5 indicators to capture this aspect of SDG 2: cereal yield efficiency, ammonia emission from agricultural land, a measure of sustainable nitrogen, the extent of organic farming, and a pesticide indicator.  Ireland performs well compared to other countries on the cereal yield indicator, and is in the middle ranking for ammonia emissions and pesticide indicator.  Ireland’s organic farming share of the total utilised agricultural area (UAA) is well below the EU average at 2.2%; it scores lowest of the EU14 on this indicator.

Combining the 6 selected indicators for this goal gives a ranking of 12 for Ireland.

SDG 3 ‘Good health and wellbeing’

Improving healthy lives and promoting wellbeing at all stages of life is the focus of SDG3. It also focuses on behavioural or environmental health risks. As well as being important to the individual in terms of improving their quality of lives, good health is also valuable for social and economic growth.

This SDG includes indicators like life expectancy (healthy life years at birth), maternal and neo-natal mortality rates, subjective wellbeing measure, etc. It also covers indicators such as death due to chronic diseases, and incidence smoking.    According to Eurostat, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is now fully visible in SDG3 (Eurostat, 2024, p.15). This is likely to be true in Ireland also. The range of data available to fully reflect this SDG is more comprehensive at EU level. We use 9 indicators to reflect the aims of the goal.

As well as the above, we include suicide rate, adult fertility, smoking consumption, wellbeing, and unmet medical needs. Ireland scores well on this SDG. The combined indicators score puts it in joint 3^rd place.  

SDG 4 ‘Quality education’

SDG4 advocates inclusive and equitable quality education and promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all. 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

We utilise 6 indicators in our computation of SDG4, reflecting education at all levels of life. Ireland scores highest on two indicators: the share of the population aged 30 to 34 that have completed tertiary or equivalent education (a measure of 3^rd level outcomes); the PISA[1] score (a measure of 2^nd level outcomes). Ireland also does well on the early-leavers indicator, an indicator capturing childhood education, and an indicator reflecting basic digital skills in the population, The data suggests we do less well on the indicator that reflects life-long learning (adult participation in learning as a percentage of the population)

Overall however, the combined indicators show a very strong performance for Ireland on this SDG, with a score putting it in first place.

[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 ‘Gender equality’

SDG 5 aims at achieving gender equality by ending all forms of discrimination, violence, and any harmful practices against women. It recognises the need for equal rights and opportunities for female leadership at all political and economic decision-making levels.

Our SDG5 is computed using 6 indicators. Based on the selected indicators, we see a somewhat mixed performance for Ireland. Indicators for both the share of women in national parliament and in senior management roles have improved, but are still below the EU average with scores that place Ireland in 13^th and 9^th place, respectively.

On a more positive note, the gender pay gap has narrowed slightly over the years in the EU. Eurostat (2024, p.13) note that “the situation on the labour market has improved, as women’s hourly earnings are catching up with those of men, and the gap between men and women who are outside the labour force due to caring responsibilities has narrowed since 2018”. In Ireland, the situation has improved also, and the latest data puts the gap at 9.3%, below the EU average. Also, the gender gap is reversed in the area of education, meaning that women are ahead of men and Ireland is ranked first on this indicator (female education as a percentage of male education).

Overall, Ireland is ranked in 10^th place on this SDG indicating there is scope for improvement. Sweden, Denmark and Finland are the highest ranked countries. 

SDG 10 ‘Reduced inequalities’

SDG10 calls for reducing inequality relating to income, sex, ages, disability, race, class, ethnicity, and religion within and among countries. It also focuses on inequalities between countries, and migration and social inclusion. Increasing the income of the bottom 40 per cent of the population by adopting policies and legislation is another aim of SDG10.

In the EU, developments in SDG10 have been very favourable over the five-year period assessed. “Income inequalities within countries have improved since 2017, as shown by the narrowing income gaps between the richer and the poorer population groups (Eurostat, 2024, p.10).

Our assessment of SDG10 draws on 3 indicators to capture the theme of this goal. The data for the Palma Index, (the ratio of the richest 10 per cent of the population’s share of gross national income divided by the poorest 40 per cent’s share) shows Ireland is ranked 7^th. Data for the Gini coefficient shows Ireland is ranked 6^th place.  

We include a measure of household debt (as % of NDI) to capture the extent that households have struggled 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 5. 

SDG 16 ‘Peace, justice and strong institutions’

SDG16 calls for peaceful and inclusive societies based on human rights, protection of the most vulnerable, the rule of law and good governance.  

8 indicators are used to mirror our SDG16, covering data on homicides and prisoners, occurrence of crime/violence/vandalism, the perception of corruption, confidence in the judicial system, and protection of property rights. 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.   

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 based on the selected indicators, with an overall rank of 4.

SDG 17 ‘Partnership for the goals’ 

SDG17 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.   

In the EU, monitoring of SDG17 focuses on global partnership and financial governance within the EU. Eurostat note that overall, progress on SDG17 has improved compared with previous monitoring report editions but still shows a mixed picture (Eurostat, 2024, p.12). We use 3 indicators to reflect SDG17. Ireland’s contribution to Overseas Development Aid (ODA) at 0.63% of Gross National Income (GNI)[1] in 2023.  

Data for our second indicator comes from Eurostat; the share of environmental taxes as a proportion of revenue.  Ireland is on a par with the European average on this indicator and is ranked 9^th in our sample.

Combining our indicators, Ireland is ranked 13^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. It is hoped that better and more reliable quality data will emerge to mirror this goal in time.  All the SDGs can only be realised with a strong commitment to global partnership and cooperation.

[1] Eurostat note that the the EU’s ratio of official development assistance (ODA) to gross national income (GNI) has grown strongly in 2022, in part due to support to Ukraine, putting the EU back on track to meet the 0.7 % target set for 2030.