Building the future : children and the Sustainable Development Goals in rich countries

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were agreed to by the international community in 2015 and represent an ambitious effort to set a global agenda for development that is both equitable and sustainable, in social, economic and environmental terms, following on from the earlier Millennium Development Goals. This paper proposes an adapted set of indicators to assess countries' performance against the promise of 'leaving no one behind'. It seeks to bring the SDG targets for children in high-income countries into meaningful operation and to establish a point of departure for reviewing the SDG framework in these contexts, focusing on those goals and targets with most direct relevance to the well-being of children in high-income settings, including the domains of no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, and peace, justice, and strong institutions. The paper compares 41 countries across 25 indicators, ranking countries on their achievements in well-being for children