How social inequality affects sustainable development: evidence from a cross-country analysis of the coefficient of human inequality and the sustainable development goals index

Rising inequality is an urgent global issue and this is because of its implications for sustainable development in the world economies. In this paper we estimate the relationship between social inequality as measured by the Coefficient of Human Inequality and sustainable development which was measured by the Sustainable Development Goals Index. Using panel data for 142 countries over the period 2010 to 2019, we found evidence of a negative relationship between social inequality and sustainable development in both the long run and short run and this relationship seems to be robust to different specifications, the inclusion of control variables and the country’s level of development. Furthermore, our analysis also found different associations between social inequality and the different dimensions of sustainable development. In particular, a negative relationship with the Human Development Index and Real Gross Domestic Product per capita but a positive one with Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions. These results are important for formulating and implementing policies aimed at promoting sustainable development, especially in highly unequal societies.