MALAYSIA published its first indicators for the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDG) today.

The Statistics Department said the report on Malaysia’s progress on these internationally-agreed targets and indicators was according to the data available in the Initial Assessment of Sustainable Development Goals Indicators for Malaysia, 2018 that was published in December 2018.

Chief Statistician Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said 99 indicators were classified as available in The Initial Assessments Report, 2018.

The publication comprised data from 2015 until 2018 and 72% of the data were from administrative sources, he said in a statement today on the report.  

“SDGs focuses on People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership,” he said in a statement today on the SDGs report. 

In the people-focus area, he said Malaysia had progressed very well in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR).

“Malaysia has achieved SDG Indicator 3.1.1, MMR since 1979 with the latest reported MMR at 23.5 per 100,000 live births in 2018,” he said. 

With regards to the peace-focus area, Uzir said, the target was to “significantly reduced all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere”. 

He said the number of reported murders in 2018 in Malaysia declined to 323 cases from 379 cases (2017). The number of injuries reported also reduced to 4,660 (2018) from 5,024 (2017).

On the partnership-focus area, he said for indicator 17.8.1, Malaysia had achieved 81.2% of proportion of individuals using the internet for 2018 as compared to 80.1% in 2017.

Uzir said in September 2015, Malaysia and 193 other countries expressed commitment to support and implement the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs with the theme Leaving No One Behind. 

“In this regard, the SDG Indicators Publication will become  an input in assisting government in monitoring the achievement of the SDGs,” he added. – Bernama, October 29, 2019.