While progress on the Sustainable Development Goals has been slow thus far, digital technologies can be a game changer. Initial BCG analysis shows 70% of the 169 SDG targets have already been impacted by digital solutions. And the impact of digital goes beyond individual use cases: when comparing within the same income group, countries with advancements in digital infrastructure realize up to 40% faster progress on the SDGs.

To reap the greatest benefit from digital technologies, however, countries will need to move beyond pushing one SDG-related digital initiative, or even a series of them, and instead develop a comprehensive digital strategy aligned with national development goals.

Assessing the Link Between Digital and SDG Progress

Assessing digital technologies’ SDG impact is complex, and it’s made more challenging by the limited availability of data and the multifaceted nature of both digital and SDG progress. Despite these obstacles, our empirical assessment points toward the great potential of digital technologies for advancing the SDGs.

BCG’s analysis examined the relationship between SDG progress (as reflected in the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s SDG Index) and digital maturity. To assess digital maturity, we looked at the Telecommunications Infrastructure Index (a proxy for digital infrastructure) and the data-only mobile broadband basket (a proxy for digital affordability).

Digital leaders—those countries that have made considerable progress on digital infrastructure or affordability—were found to achieve up to 40% more progress on the SDGs compared with peer countries in their income group. Digging into the two components of digital maturity, we found:¹ 1 Results for countries with income levels other than those described here also indicate a correlation between digital leadership and SDG progress but are not statistically significant. Notes: 1 Results for countries with income levels other than those described here also indicate a correlation between digital leadership and SDG progress but are not statistically significant.

• Digital Infrastructure. Lower- and middle-income countries with stronger growth in infrastructure (the top 20%) realized 40% more progress across all SDGs from 2010 to 2020. High-income countries did even better, showing a 44% increase in progress.
• Digital Affordability. Countries in the top 40% of digital affordability among high-income countries achieved 58% more progress across all SDGs from 2014 to 2020.

To better understand the relationship between digital leadership and SDG progress, we reviewed more than 300 digital solutions. The results highlighted that existing digital technologies can support SDG progress across nations by fulfilling two primary functions: empowering marginalized groups and enabling better efficiency and monitoring of the environment.

For instance, some digital technologies support financial inclusion, education access, and market entry, empowering marginalized people and advancing certain SDGs, including #1 (No Poverty), #2 (Zero Hunger), #4 (Quality Education), and #5 (Gender Equality). Others, such as algorithmic-driven water management and sensors that monitor the health of endangered ecosystems, enhance decision making, boosting SDGs #13 (Climate Action), #14 (Life Below Water), and #15 (Life on Land).

The Need for a Holistic Strategy

National governments should drive progress on digital maturity and underlying digital transformations, yet all stakeholders must collaborate to ensure inclusive digital transformation and SDG success. We see four major step changes that can be driven through action by all members of the international development community:

1. Scale proven digital solutions. The focus should be on moving beyond pilots and scaling proven cross-border digital solutions. These efforts must be designed to foster interoperability and data collection so that assessments of the impact of digital can be done efficiently and effectively.
2. Improve collaboration and raise ambition among stakeholders. Digital transformation demands joint efforts between private-sector players, financial institutions, civil society, UN agencies, and governments. Taking an “all hands on deck” approach ensures the acceleration of digital progress at both national and global levels.
3. Expand funding and financing approaches. Closing the $3.7 trillion-plus SDG funding gap requires concerted actions, including the pooling of resources through collaboration and the leveraging of methods such as blended finance.
4. Unlock private-sector potential for greater societal impact. The private sector’s pivotal SDG role hinges on concrete ESG pledges, open innovation, global collaboration, and supply chain decarbonization. Strengthening incentives and implementing guardrails can help channel those efforts.