LGBTI economic, political and social exclusion remains pervasive, resulting in a lack of access to things like adequate education and health services. If LGBTI people continue to face exclusion, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will remain out of our reach. We must quickly sort out what it will take to ensure LGBTI inclusion.

UNDP’s work includes a focus on providing the data and analysis that informs sustainable development. It is development data and its analysis that can lead to policy and program changes necessary to underpin sustainable development and prioritize investments. But in most places, data and analysis specific to LGBTI people is drastically lacking, allowing the challenges faced by them to remain invisible. UNDP is trying to change that with an initiative to address the data gaps and a new UNDP LGBTI Inclusion Index.

Measuring inclusion is not new to UNDP. We have long measured human development with the Human Development Index (HDI), and the more recently added Gender Inequality Index (GII). These indices help gauge how far countries have progressed in ensuring a long and healthy life, education, and a decent standard of living for all (HDI) and access to reproductive health, empowerment, and comparable economic status for women (GII). Read more via UNDP