Following the development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN Inter-agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals (IAEG-SDGs), led by the UN Statistical Commission, identified 242 global indicators to monitor progress toward achieving the 17 goals and their 169 associated targets.

The IAEG categorized the indicators in three tiers: Those that have a clear methodology and data gathered to support them (Tier I), those that have an established methodology but no regular data collection (Tier II), and those that have neither a clear methodology nor regular data collection (Tier III).