Measuring Human Development
Hunger. Safety. Security. Happiness. There is no "good enough" when you're responsible for people's lives. And the needle doesn't move unless you measure for it.
Through our independent research and collaboration with global development organizations such as the United Nations on sustainable development goals, our global statistics and metrics find the parameters of the challenges facing humankind and track the progress toward change.
Solving the World's Most Pressing Problems
For more than 80 years, Gallup has been studying how people's lives are going. Our founder, George Gallup, set out in 1935 to understand all the billions of ways to live a life. We continue his work today through our own research and in working partnerships with government, nonprofit, philanthropic and other socially minded organizations.
We are committed to developing indicators to measure key global development and social responsibility issues across time -- including those monitored by the U.N. sustainable development goals -- because we know that consistent and reliable data are crucial for holding ourselves and leaders accountable for making the world a better place.
List of Sustainable Development Goals That We Track
Our metrics contribute to sustainable development goals (SDGs) -- goals adopted by the U.N. in 2015 as part of a 15-year call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and improve the lives and prospects of people worldwide.
- Law and Order (SDG 16)
- Financial Inclusion (SDG 8.10.2)
- Zero Hunger (SDG 2)
Additional sub-SDG-level global development goals:
- World Food Programme (Gender Equality for Food Security measure)
- G20 Digital Financial Inclusion Indicators
Why Measuring Global Happiness Matters
We conduct research in partnership and independently to create benchmarks for bettering lives.
Metrics for a Better Future
We work with organizations that have such big ideas, we needed a new way to measure them.
Global Findex: The world's most comprehensive database on financial inclusion.
The Global Slavery Index: Giving voice to victims of modern slavery in nearly 50 countries.
Gallup helped take FAO's Food Insecurity Experience Scale global using the World Poll for country-level estimates of the prevalence of food insecurity.
Gender Equality for Food Security measure: Combines FAO's Food Insecurity Scale with 25 questions across five dimensions of gender inequality.
What Do We Need to Understand to Make the World a Better Place?
The Gallup Research Centers are our independent commitment to expanding global knowledge and measuring human development.
