The global development agenda is now focused on reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, but a key challenge is the data gap – in order to manage one has to be able to measure, and according to some studies less than half of the SDG indicators are currently available or operational.

One of the main gaps is that most development data and statistics do not contain gender-specific data making it very hard to plan and evaluate programs specifically for women and girls such as maternal health, reproductive rights, gender equality and access to education. 

To address the global gender data gap, the UN launched the Data2x initiative that has just released its flagship report Big Data for the Wellbeing of Women and Girls: Applications on the Social Scientific Frontier.

Click here for the published research article "Exploring the high-resolution mapping of gender disaggregated development indicators" in the peer-reviewed interdisciplinary Journal of the Royal Society Interface.