One of the most important commitments in the 2030 Agenda is the commitment to leave no one behind. It is a promise that everyone, everywhere, shall benefit from progress made and that we will endeavour to reach those furthest behind first. 

When available data is visualised, it becomes clear that the possibilities to benefit from progress and enjoy human rights is often dependent on where you live. At the same time, a lot of things are not a measured. Statistics that are broken down by income, gender, age, ethnicity, religious affiliation, asylum status, disability, and geographical location are all important to capture who and where people are left behind. 

In many countries, these statistics are not available. This is where development aid is making a difference. New methods of collecting data are contributing to increased knowledge and improved efforts for vulnerable people. The Swedish statistical agency SCB is working to strengthen the statistical capacity of low and middle-income countries to enable development of reliable statistics for decision-making. Reliable statistics also strengthen civil society organisations’ ability to influence decision-makers and demand efforts to ensure the promise of leaving no one behind is kept. 

Welcome to a discussion on how we improve and use data to make better decisions so that the realisation of human rights is not dependent on where you may live.