By MIYUKI HOKUGO/ Senior Staff Writer
June 22, 2023 at 17:23 JST
Japan slipped to 21st place from last year’s 19th in the ranking of a country's performance in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The ranking was included in the annual report published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), an international research organization aligned with the United Nations, on June 21.
Japan’s ranking in the annual survey has been dropping since peaking at 11th place in 2017.
The report is titled the Sustainable Development Report 2023. The ranking covers 166 countries that have comparable data.
Finland came in first for the third consecutive year. European countries, including those in Eastern Europe, held all the top 20 positions.
The report rates how well a country has achieved 17 SDGs on a scale of four.
It gave Japan the worst score for five goals, as it did last year.
The five goals are Gender Equality (Goal 5), Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12), Climate Action (Goal 13), Life Below Water (Goal 14) and Life on Land (Goal 15).
In addition, Japan’s score on Decent Work and Economic Growth (Goal 8) slipped to the second lowest due to factors such as importing products manufactured through forced labor.
Japan had retained the highest score for Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (Goal 16) until last year.
But this year, it was given only the second-best score after the SDSN concluded Japan has challenges regarding freedom of the press.
In contrast, Japan managed to avoid being given the worst score on Partnerships for the Goals (Goal 17), probably because of its increase in official development assistance (ODA).
But Japan’s financial secrecy score has remained low this year.
Financial secrecy, one of the factors the SDSN considers to rate countries on Goal 17, measures how well a country is trying to prevent tax evasion or money laundering.
In addition, this year’s report for the first time included a ranking of 74 countries’ efforts and commitments to achieving the SDGs.
It rated governments’ “seriousness” in achieving the SDGs in terms of initiatives such as policies or budgets.
Sweden ranked first, followed by Switzerland, the Netherlands, Finland and Benin, a western African country. Japan ranked 13th.
The United States, which has never voluntarily reported to the United Nations its efforts to achieve the SDGs, came in last.
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
