Shimla Secures Top Spot In NITI Aayog’s First SDG Urban Index — Check Best & Worst Cities

The SGD Index took into account 56 urban areas for measuring SDG indicator compliance in areas related to ending poverty, zero hunger, good health and well being, quality education among others. 

New Delhi: NITI Aayog's first Sustainable Development Goal Urban Index Report stated that Shimla has topped the SDG Urban Index. The SGD Index took into account 56 urban areas for measuring SDG indicator compliance in areas related to ending poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality among others. 

The United Nations General Assembly in 2015 had set the target to meet 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This index measured the urban spaces on 15 out of the 17 SDGs. 

The SDG Urban Index and Dashboard 2021-22 was launched by the NITI Aayog on Tuesday. The Index has been developed by a joint collaboration between NITI Aayog-GIZ and BMZ.

The collaboration “focused on driving SDG localization in our cities, under the umbrella of Indo-German Development Cooperation,” said NITI Aayog. 

Shimla was followed by Coimbatore and Chandigarh in the Index. A total of 56 urban areas were included in the Index. The SDG Index measured 56 cities on 77 indicators across 46 targets of the SDG framework.

The data for these indicators were taken from the National Family Health Survey, National Crime Records Bureau, Unified District Information System for Education, data portals of various ministries, and other government data sources. 

"Cities are fast becoming engines of growth. The SDG Urban index and dashboard, a product of an innovative partnership between NITI Aayog and GIZ, will go a long way in instituting a robust SDG monitoring system in our cities, and is a milestone step in our SDG localisation journey," said Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog during the launch.

Check SDG Urban Index List

Of the 56 urban areas that were included in the index, 44 urban areas have a population above one million. There are 12 state capitals also ranked in the index which have a population of less than 1 million. 

The urban areas which secured the first ten spots in the index are — Shimla, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Panaji, Pune, Tiruchirapalli, Ahmedabad, Nagpur.

While the ten urban areas at the bottom of the index were —  Faridabad, Kolkata, Agra, Kohima, Jodhpur, Patna, Guwahati, Itanagar, Meerut, Dhanbad.