Behavioural Science Interventions for SDG Acceleration

The Behavioural Science Interventions for SDG Acceleration dashboard is an exploratory tool for identifying where behavioural science can support faster and more targeted SDG action. Open the dashboard

The dashboard links indicators from the Sustainable Development Report 2025 to a global database of behavioural science and nudge interventions. It shows which SDG-related outcomes can be influenced through behavioural approaches, and which ones depend on deeper institutional, infrastructural, regulatory or systemic change.

It builds on the working paper Behavioural Science and Nudge Interventions Database for SDG Acceleration by Hsiang Jien Naik, Changu Maundeni, Austin G. Hamilton, Aljaz Kuncic, Sven Geisert and Fatima Zahoor, which brings together 732 behavioural and nudge interventions from around the world and maps them to the Sustainable Development Goals. Behavioural science does not replace policy reform or investment. It is an additional lever where outcomes depend on choices, incentives, trust, information, defaults, reminders, norms or friction in service delivery.

What the dashboard does

• Connects SDG indicators to behavioural interventions already tested in other contexts.
• Shows where behavioural science is most relevant, using an abstraction score that measures how close an SDG outcome sits to individual or organizational decision-making.
• Separates behavioural entry points from structural bottlenecks, so that every development challenge is not treated as a nudge problem.
• Sets out intervention types and mechanisms, including choice architecture, reminders, social norms, information, incentives, simplification, salience and commitment devices.
• Gives intervention examples, target groups, impact measures and links to the relevant SDGs and indicators.

Behavioural interventions tend to work best where progress depends on repeated, low-cost decisions: whether people take up services, complete forms, attend appointments, save energy, pay taxes, vaccinate children, use public systems, follow rules or change everyday practices. In these areas, small changes in design can produce large changes in outcomes.

The tool is built for Country Analysis, Cooperation Framework design, Results Group discussions, SDG acceleration dialogues and policy conversations with government counterparts. It helps users ask sharper questions. Which indicators are lagging because of behavioural barriers? Which interventions have worked elsewhere? Where could a reminder, a default, a simplification, a feedback mechanism or a shift in social norms improve uptake? And where is behavioural science not enough on its own, without broader policy, financing or institutional action?

The dashboard is part of the UN 2.0 agenda, which brings data, digital tools, innovation and behavioural science into policy dialogue. It is a starting point for testing and adaptation. It does not offer ready-made solutions.

A note on use

Outputs are exploratory analytical inputs. They are not official UN assessments or policy prescriptions, and they do not guarantee that an intervention will work in a different context. Behavioural interventions should be adapted, tested and implemented with attention to local conditions, ethics, institutional capacity and the wider policy environment. As research work in progress, the views expressed in the working paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations.

Colleagues and partners are welcome to explore the dashboard and share feedback. For more information, contact Austin G. Hamilton at austin.hamilton@un.org or Aljaz Kuncic at kuncic@un.org.