You can’t measure progress without collecting reliable data. The data project known as the City Prosperity Index (CPI), carried out between 2015 and 2018 in more than 300 municipalities in Mexico, sought accurate knowledge of the well-being of residents. The public-private project created a new data repository that now assists local governments in analysing, planning and monitoring urban policies geared towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.



Infonavit, the largest social mortgage institution in Latin America, with the support of UN-Habitat, implemented the CPI to track how each city rated on six dimensions of urban prosperity: productivity, infrastructure for development, quality of life, equity and social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and governance and legislation. The project developed a special methodology for defining urban agglomerations and developing relevant indicators that could standardize different sources of data.

Ultimately, the project’s metrics resulted in a series of reports that provide statistical evidence for facilitating political dialogue and accountability, identify challenges and opportunities for cities in Mexico, and support evidence-based decision-making for local and regional governments. Such measurement allows for the monitoring of government efforts towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the commitments of the New Urban Agenda, a priority of UN-Habitat.

Every three years, Infonavit and UN-Habitat will use the CPI to measure the state of prosperity for the 305 evaluated municipalities in order to monitor the progress Mexican cities are making towards reaching the SDGs.

The implementation of the CPI in Mexico was an unprecedented exercise in metrics and analysis of the state of Mexican cities. It gathers—in a single database—official information generated by a multitude of fragmented and poorly coordinated institutions and provides easily-available information to decisionmakers, and now it can serve as an accountability tool for the public.

What are the inspiring breakthroughs and success stories that illustrate SDG implementation? What are the good practices that can be replicated and scaled up? What are the gaps and constraints and how should we address them? Looking ahead, what steps should we take to accelerate progress? To help answer these and other questions, UN DESA gathered more than 600 good SDG practices in a searchable online database. Be inspired by SDG solutions that work: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnerships/goodpractices

Photo: Alejandro Montes (Colombia)