Quantification of systemic importance of SDGs in Asian‐African countries: A network hierarchy analysis

Abstract

Asian‐African countries face challenges in achieving the 2030 Agenda and require scientific support for progress. Studies have focused on reorganizing important Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets to assess their priorities in these countries considering internal interactions. While previous studies mainly considered first‐order interactions among SDGs, some scholars have emphasized the significance of high‐order interactions that amplify SDG impacts and lead to systemic transformations. To address this, we propose a network hierarchy analysis‐based method to quantify what we called “systemic importance” of SDGs considering high‐order interactions of SDGs in 26 Asian‐African countries using country‐specific target level interaction networks. By analyzing the results, we draw the following conclusions. Goals 13–17 have the highest systemic importance, with the majority of targets being important in the system. Goals with lower systemic importance still include exceptional targets, such as targets related to technological capacity, international representation, and scholarships within Goals 4, 10, and 12, respectively. The rankings of systemic importance for targets and SDGs are similar among the 26 Asian‐African countries, but Lao PDR and Indonesia exhibit larger numerical ranges that require further attention to systemically important targets and goals. Additionally, certain countries show significantly higher systemic importance in specific goals, such as Goal 4 in the Republic of Korea and Goal 7 in Singapore. This study offers quantitative support for prioritizing SDGs in Asian‐African countries by considering the profound impacts resulting from high‐order interactions.