Timeline

February – April 2024

Tools

Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign

Context

In 2012, the United Nations devised the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 17 universal goals encouraging all countries to work toward a more prosperous and peaceful world by tackling the economic, social, environmental, and political challenges of our time.

Challenge

With the 2030 deadline for all countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals approaching, how might we raise awareness of our progress toward this global endeavour through design?

Data Analysis

Analyzing the data tables for each SDG, I discovered that more developed regions, which typically see greater economic, employment, and educational success, also often report higher suicide rates among their population. However, for less developed regions, the opposite is true.

This was curious to me because I had assumed that citizens of higher-income countries would lead more prosperous and "happier" lives, less likely to die by suicide.

Solution

A data visualization poster encouraging audiences to reflect on the question, "Can money buy happiness?"

It intends to explore how more developed regions, which experience greater economic and educational prosperity, also report the highest suicide rates. However, the opposite is true for less developed regions.

Selected Data Indicators and Visualization Types

From the 2023 Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations.

Indicator 3.4.2 (a)

Suicide rate

Proportional area chart

Effective for comparing low values, with 3.7 to 15.7 occurences of suicide per 100,000 population among the regions. Black circles convey the seriousness of this data set.

Indicator 4.1.2 (e)

Completion rate upper secondary education, both sexes

Polar area chart

Visually striking and effective for comparing mainly high values, at 21.5% to 92.3% upper secondary education completion rates among the regions.

Indicator 1.1.1 (b)

Proportion of employed population below the international poverty line of 1.90 USD per day, both sexes

Slice-sized radial bar charts

Same chart type as Indicator 8.5.2 (a) as the data sets share a theme of employment or lack thereof. Additionally, both indicate better performance when their values are lower. Sliced-size chart assists with comparing this rate between regions in the poster.