At the UK Data Service, we provide access and support for all core OECD datasets via UKDS.Stat. One of these datasets is the Social and Welfare Statistics and includes the data underpinning the OECD’s recent publication ‘In in Together: why less inequality benefits all’. This was useful reading for a session on ‘Addressing Inequality’ which covered widespread unemployment and the growing gap between rich and poor – recurring topics throughout the Forum. The recently published 2015 Change Readiness Index report stated that ‘economic inequality is greatest threat facing many nations’ and there are many more startling statistics and indonesia rcs data headlines around the topic of income inequality and the OECD reports that the gap between rich and poor is at its highest level in 30 years in OECD Countries. There was broad agreement during this session that there is an issue with existing economic model, that growing GDP would not reduce inequality and that closing the income inequality gap would result in higher growth. Potential ways to tackle income inequality were then discussed – better and more employment, education, skills and investment. The session can be viewed in full via the OECD Forum 2015 webcasts and the OECD Income Inequality in Figures are also work a look!
soc and welfare stats
Leave no one behind
Themes of equality and inclusiveness cut across both the substance and process of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, drawn up, it is often perceived, by a ‘group of men in the basement of UN headquarters’, the SDGs have been developed through a huge consultation programme involving national consultations in over 70 countries, social media campaigns and even door-to-door surveys. The result is likely to be a set of goals that builds on the practical character of the MDGs (with their focus on poverty, hunger, water sanitation and health) and goes beyond to include good governance, gender equality, peace, security and human rights.