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• Published: 12 November 2019

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Are we successful in turning trade-offs into synergies?

• Christian Kroll   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9954-6123 1 ,
• Anne Warchold 2 &
• Prajal Pradhan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0491-5489 2  

Palgrave Communications volume  5 , Article number:  140 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

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• Development studies
• Environmental studies

The Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provides the framework that all United Nations (UN) member states have pledged to fulfill. The achievement of this agenda crucially depends on whether humankind will be able to maximize synergies and resolve existing trade-offs between the SDGs. We provide the first analysis of future interactions for projected SDG trends until 2030 within and between goals, and we analyze how trade-offs and synergies have evolved in the recent past globally. For certain goals, we find positive developments with notable synergies in our projections, especially for SDGs 1, 3, 7, 8, and 9: Poverty alleviation and strengthening the economy, rooted in innovation, and modern infrastructure, therefore continue to be the basis upon which many of the other SDGs can be achieved. However, especially SDGs 11, 13, 14, 16, and 17 will continue to have notable trade-offs, as well as non-associations with the other goals in the future, which emphasizes the need to foster innovations and policies that can make our cities and communities more sustainable, as well as strengthen institutions and spur climate action. We show examples of a successful transformation of trade-offs into synergies that should be emulated in other areas to create a virtuous cycle of SDG progress. The alarming inability to overcome certain persistent trade-offs we have found, and indeed the deterioration for some SDGs, can seriously threaten the achievement of the Agenda 2030.

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Introduction.

The Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provides the framework that all 193 United Nations (UN) member states have pledged to achieve (United Nations, 2015 ). Unlike previous development agendas that put an emphasis on economic growth, the SDGs are a universal framework that contains many potentially diverging policy goals in the economic, social, and environmental sphere, while some goals are thought to be mutually supportive. The achievement of the agenda crucially depends on whether we will be able to maximize such synergies and resolve the existing trade-offs.

To shed light onto this important topic, research is beginning to examine the interlinkages between the 17 goals (Lu et al., 2015 ; Schmidt et al., 2015 ; Pradhan, 2019 ; Breuer et al., 2019 ). Previous studies prior to the SDGs had already looked at interlinkages, for instance, between climate change adaptation and mitigation response (Smith and Olesen, 2010 ); poverty alleviation (Mathy and Blanchard, 2016 ); meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (Bue and Klasen, 2013 ); and balancing economic development, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion for human well-being (Ibisch et al., 2016 ; Sachs, 2012 ). With the SDGs, however, a new level of opportunities for classifying interactions has emerged so that these issues can be examined more systematically in the future (Costanza et al., 2016 ; Rickels et al., 2016 ; Nilsson et al., 2016 ). The first complete quantification of synergies and trade-offs within and across the SDGs was provided by Pradhan et al. ( 2017 ). It was found that SDG 1 ( No poverty ) has synergetic relationship with many goals, while SDG 12 ( Responsible consumption and production ) is associated with trade-offs, especially regarding economic progress. A similar pattern was found in a more recent study by Lusseau and Mancini ( 2019 ) who reported that “limiting climate change, reducing inequalities and responsible consumption are key hurdles to achieving 2030 goals across countries [while] […] poverty alleviation and reducing inequalities will have compound positive effects on all SDGs”. Modeling three alternative policy pathways (technology, lifestyle change, and decentralized governance) for achieving SDG targets, these alternative development paths lead to synergies that enhance target achievement, while others lead to trade-offs (Moyer and Bohl, 2019 ). Additional studies have highlighted selected aspects of SDG interactions, such as between energy (SDG 7) and other SDGs (Nerini et al., 2018 ), or between selected social and environmental goals (Scherer et al., 2018 ), or with a case study to facilitate the prioritization of SDG targets for 22 countries in the Arab region (Allen et al., 2019 ), or at the local level in Sweden for selected SDG interactions (Engström et al., 2019 ), or relating urban scaling with SDG 11 ( Sustainable cities and communities ) indicators (Akuraju et al., 2020 ).

Although such studies of a snapshot in time on interactions are helpful to assess the current state of the challenge, in the end the world community’s ability to achieve Agenda 2030 will crucially depend on whether over time trade-offs across the entire spectrum of the SDGs can be minimized and synergies can be maximized. Therefore, this study examines whether countries are currently good enough at dealing with these interlinkages based on extrapolated developments in the recent past in relation to the level needed for SDG achievement by 2030: How have interactions within and between the 17 SDGs across countries evolved over time? Are we successful in moving from trade-offs to synergies at the rate that is necessary to achieve the goals? We analyze how trade-offs and synergies between the goals have developed between 2010 and 2018. Most importantly, we provide the first analysis of future interactions for projected SDG trends until 2030. The most significant added value to the literature of our study is therefore that it fills a gap by being the first analysis to use SDG trends to calculate projected SDG interactions in the future. Given the increased focus in recent years on the need for synergies between economic, social, and environmental progress (in addition to the studies mentioned earlier in this section, see e.g. Stiglitz et al., 2009 , 2018 ), we hypothesize that synergies between these three spheres of progress will occupy a larger portion in our projections of the interlinkages until 2030 than trade-offs. Table  1 lists all SDGs and their full titles.

Data and method

The SDG Index and Dashboards database provides globally available data at country level on SDG indicators from 2010 to 2018 (Sachs et al., 2018 ). This is the first study on SDG interactions using the SDG Index and Dashboards report data which has been described as “the most comprehensive picture of national progress on the SDGs and offers a useful synthesis of what has been achieved so far” (Nature Sustainability Editorial, 2018 ). The database contains data for 193 countries with up to 111 indicators per country on all 17 SDGs (as of 14 May 2019; detailed information, including the full list of indicators and the raw data used here are available from www.sdgindex.org ; see also Schmidt-Traub et al., 2017 for the methodology). In order to avoid discussions associated with the aggregation of the goals into a single number (Diaz-Sarachaga et al., 2018 ), we do not use the aggregated SDG Index score in this paper but only scores for the separate goals.

Interactions can be classified as synergies (i.e. progress in one goal favors progress in another) or trade-offs (i.e. progress in one goal hinders progress in another). We examine synergies and trade-offs to the results of a Spearman correlation analysis across all the SDG indicators, accounting for all countries, and the entire time-frame between 2010 and 2018. We thereby analyze in the main analytical section (section “Interactions between SDGs”) up to 136 SDG pairs per year for 9 consecutive years minus 69 missing cases due to data gaps, resulting in a total of 1155 SDG interactions under study.

In a first analysis (section “Interactions within SDGs”), we examine interactions within each goal since every SDG is made up of a number of targets that are measured by various indicators. In a second analysis (section “Interactions between SDGs”), we then examine the existence of a significant positive and negative correlations in the SDG performance across countries. We conduct a series of cross-sectional analyses for the period 2010–2018 to understand how the SDG interactions have developed from year to year. We use correlation coefficient (rho value) ± 0.5 as the threshold to define synergy and trade-off between an indicator pair. An association is considered to have at least moderate relationship when the rho value is >0.5 or <−0.5 (Smarandache, 2009 ). The development on SDG interactions identified based on maximum change occurred in the shares of synergies, trade-offs, and no relations for SDG pairs between 2010 and 2018. All variables were re-coded in a consistent way towards SDG progress to avoid false associations, i.e. a positive sign is assigned for indicators with values that would have to increase for attaining the SDGs, and a negative sign in the opposite case. Our analysis is therefore applying a similar method as described by Pradhan et al. ( 2017 ) in so far as we are examining SDG interlinkages as synergies (positive correlation) and trade-offs (negative correlation). However, in important contrast to the aforementioned paper, we do not investigate SDG interactions within countries longitudinally, but instead we carry out cross-sectional investigations across countries on how the global community’s ability to manage synergies and trade-offs has evolved over the last 9 years, as well as projected SDG trends until 2030. We therefore examine global cross-sectional country data. An advance of such a global cross-sectional analysis is that it can compare the status of different countries at a given point in time, covering the SDG interactions over the whole range of development spectrum from least developed to developed ones. The longitudinal analysis covers only the interactions occurred within a country for the investigated period. Moreover, we repeat this global cross-sectional analysis for a number of consecutive years. Another novel contribution of this study is therefore to highlight how such global SDG interactions have evolved in the recent years. Finally, by resorting to the SDG Index database for the first time in the research field of SDG interactions, we use a more comprehensive dataset than was used in Pradhan et al. ( 2017 ).

In the last analytical section (“Interactions in the projected SDG trends until 2030”), we provide the first examination of how interlinkages between the projected trends in the SDGs will evolve until 2030. Based on SDG country performance from 2010 until 2015, Sachs et al. ( 2018 ) have calculated linear trajectories for the SDGs with respect to the level that will be required to achieve each goal by 2030. An important feature here is that the development in each country and goal from 2010 to 2015 up until the year 2030 is not only extrapolated but for the final score also set in relation to the level needed for SDG achievement by then. More precisely, all available data points between the years 2010 and 2015 were gathered by Sachs et al. ( 2018 ), and then their development over said period was extrapolated into the future. The linear annual growth rates (i.e. annual percentage improvements) needed to achieve each SDG by 2030 was compared to the actual average annual growth rate in each country and indicator over the period 2010–2015 (with some exceptions). The overall goal trends are an arithmetic average of the rescaled values for all trend indicators under the respective goal. This projection results in a five-point scale variable with the following classification: “decreasing” (country score is moving away from SDG achievement on this indicator), “stagnating” (country score remains stagnant or is improving at a rate below 50% of what is needed for SDG achievement by 2030), “moderately increasing” (country score is increasing at a rate above 50% but below the rate needed for SDG achievement by 2030, “on track” (score is improving at the rate needed for SDG achievement by 2030), “maintaining goal achievement” (country score is level and remains at or above SDG achievement). More details on the calculation method are available in Sachs et al. ( 2018 ). We perform the first analysis of future interactions for this new variable by assessing the synergies and trade-offs between future SDG achievement trends until 2030. Additionally, we investigate the projected SDG interactions for different income groups (low/middle/high-income countries as categorized by the World Bank) to identify similarities and differences among the income groups regarding future SDG achievement trends. In order to do so, as the first step we group the five scores into three categories to reflect their progress towards SDG achievement. If the indicator trend is classified as “decreasing”, we assign a value −1. The “stagnating” score trend is given a value 0. Since the rest of the categories (“moderately increasing”, “on track”, and “maintaining SDG achievement”) reflect positive developments towards the SDGs, we assign to them a value of 1. We then analyze interactions by multiplying these assigned values, leading to the following three outcomes: synergies (1), not-classified (0), and trade-offs (−1). Akin to the previous section, this procedure is first conducted within each SDG using its component sub-indicators, followed by an analysis of interactions between the 17 SDGs.

Interactions within SDGs

Each SDG in itself is an umbrella term that can be multi-faceted and contain numerous policy goals (United Nations, 2015 ). For example, SDG 7 ( Affordable and clean energy ) calls for “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all”. This leads to the question of potential trade-offs and synergies also within each SDG, for instance between affordable and sustainable energy, which we address here first of all, and we examine their evolution over time. We observe a mixture of results on interactions within SDGs for the period under study 2010–2018: (i) increase in synergies, (ii) growing trade-offs, and (iii) diluting associations within an SDG (Fig.  1 ).

Interactions within SDGs from 2010 to 2018. The color bars represent the shares of trade-offs (orange), synergies (green), and not-classifieds (yellow) observed within a goal. The gray bar depicts insufficient data for the analysis

The majority of goals show synergies between their component sub-indicators that are relatively stable over time. Interestingly, regarding SDG 1 ( No poverty ), SDG 2 ( Zero hunger ), and SDG 5 ( Gender equality ) they have emerged only recently. Before 2016, only weak associations can be observed within these goals. Interactions within SDG 5 have even flipped for a share of trade-offs to synergies between 2016 and 2017. In SDG 2, a mixed share of synergies and trade-offs are observed after 2016, with an increased share of synergies and decreased share of trade-offs. This is a positive sign for a successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Trade-offs are prevalent in particular for SDG 13 ( Climate action ) and SDG 7 ( Affordable and clean energy) , illustrating the difficulty in aligning even the components within a single goal. In the case of SDG 7 these trade-offs have only emerged in 2017 while before the components were in a synergetic relationship with each other. Similarly, for SDG 11 ( Sustainable cities and communities ) mostly weak associations are observed before 2017 that have given way to trade-offs in the recent past. These results illustrate that for certain goals new challenges have arisen regarding successful SDG implementation.

Finally, interactions within many SDGs show that the associations among the indicators have been diluted across time, e.g., within SDG 3 ( Good health and well-being ), SDG 4 ( Quality education ), SDG 6 ( Clean water and sanitation ), SDG 8 ( Decent work and economic growth ), SDG 10 ( Reduced inequalities ), SDG 16 ( Peace, justice and strong institutions ), and SDG 17 ( Partnerships for the goals ). In these cases, shares of synergies have mainly been reduced by increases in shares of not-classified associations in these goals. Such diluting associations show the difficulty of maintaining intra-goal synergies, and might also be due to disproportional progress towards the goals and their targets among the countries.

Interactions between SDGs

Changes in synergies between sdgs.

We turn to interactions between the SDGs and examine 136 SDG pairs over 9 consecutive years, which can be classified into changes in (section “Changes in synergies between SDGs”) synergies, (section “Changes in trade-offs between SDGs”) trade-offs, and (section “Changes in strength of associations between SDGs”) strength of associations. Figure  2 displays the significant increases in the share of synergies (left) and the significant decreases in the share of synergies (right). Between 2010 and 2015, we observe an increase in a share of synergies for nine SDG pairs. This finding is driven by two mechanisms: (i) a decrease of trade-offs and (ii) a strengthening of associations. For example, the indicators for SDG 2 and SDG 6 shows an increase in synergies mainly due to the breaking away of trade-offs. Both SDGs were also part of the MDGs and many countries have made progress on these goals during the MDG period, which might contribute to this increase in synergies. Another such positive example can be seen in the interactions between SDG 13 and SDGs 6, 7, 9, 11, and 16. A large share of trade-offs was converted into synergies in the recent years because of efforts to reduce emissions per capita and reconcile climate action with economic and social outcomes. However, many significant trade-offs remain, as well as in fact a long way to go to meet the well below 2 °C global warming target. Meanwhile, a strengthening of positive associations can be observed, for example, between SDGs 5 and 16.

Changes in synergetic association among the SDGs with an increased share of synergies (left) and a decreased share (right). The color bars represent the shares of trade-offs (orange), synergies (green), and not-classifieds (yellow) observed within a goal. The gray bar depicts insufficient data for the analysis

During the same period, we observe a higher number of 15 SDG pairs with a decrease in a share of synergies compared to the nine SDG pairs with an increase in synergies. In most cases, synergies have decreased due to diluting associations between SDG pairs. For example, SDG pair 3–7, 4–7, and 8–16 has shown almost 100% synergies in 2010, which has been reduced to <50% by 2018. This might be alarming in two senses: (i) positive associations might be vanishing and negative ones might be building up and (ii) countries might be having different paces in attaining the SDGs that can increase inequalities between the countries. Increases in trade-offs with a decrease in synergies can already be observed for several SDG pairs, i.e., 1–16, 3–7, 4–7, and 11–17.

Changes in trade-offs between SDGs

Following on a decrease in share of synergies, we observed an increase in the share of trade-offs (Fig.  3 ). In line with the previous sub-section, the number of SDG pairs where trade-offs are increasing (15) is higher than those which are decreasing (9). In most of cases, the mechanism underneath the deterioration is that weak associations among the goals have evolved to trade-offs, e.g. SDG pairs 1–7, 1–15, 8–15, 15–16. These trade-offs are particularly alarming and could hinder the achievement of SDGs. Therefore, a deep investigation for the caused for this is needed in future in-depth research. A good news is reducing trade-offs between some SDGs in this decade, mainly between SDG 13 and SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. In this case, trade-offs have been converted to either synergies or weak associations.

Changes in conflicting associations among the SDGs with an increased share of trade-off (left) and a decreased share (right). The color bars represent the shares of trade-offs (orange), synergies (green), and not-classifieds (yellow) observed within a goal. The gray bar depicts insufficient data for the analysis

Changes in strength of associations between SDGs

Between 2010 and 2018, we also observed an increase in weak association among 36 SDG pairs (Fig.  4 ). Most cases are of weakening synergies among the SDG pairs. For example, SDG pairs 1–2, 1–3, 1–4, 1–6, and 1–10 have mostly synergistic relations (a share of more than 66%) in the beginning of the decade, however, the share has decreased up to 40% in these goal pairs, sometimes with an appearance of trade-offs. Nevertheless, weakening of trade-offs has also been observed for some SDG pairs, e.g., 1–14, 2–3, 2–7, 4–5, 2–11, 5–6, and 10–14.

Changes in strength of associations among the SDGs with an diluted association (left) and a strengthened one (right). The color bars represent the shares of trade-offs (orange), synergies (green), and not-classifieds (yellow) observed within a goal. The gray bar depicts insufficient data for the analysis

By contrast, for some SDG interactions the associations, strengthened relations can be observed over time. These are due to an increase in synergies, trade-offs or both. For example, SDG pairs 4–8, 6–9, 6–16, and 7–8 shows strengthening synergistic associations, while associations between SDG 15 and SDGs 2, 3, 9, 11, and 17 evolve toward an increase in trade-offs. For the pairs, SDGs 2–8, 2–16, 6–15, 7–15 and 13–15, both share of synergies and trade-offs increase between 2010 and 2018.

Interactions in the projected SDG trends until 2030

Looking ahead to the year 2030, the question arises how the performance on the SDGs will evolve over time and in particular the interactions between them. Figure  5 displays the results from the first interaction analysis of future SDG trends based on a projected trend variable that extrapolates the development in each country and goal from 2010 to 2015 up until the year 2030 and crucially relates it to the level needed for SDG achievement by then (as opposed to a mere extrapolation).

Interactions between sub-indicators within (left) and between (right) projected SDG trends until 2030. The color bars represent the shares of trade-offs (orange), synergies (green), and not-classifieds (yellow) observed within a goal. The gray bar depicts insufficient data for the analysis. The numbers in the boxes represent the number of data pairs used for each analysis. Icon images courtesy of United Nations

In line with our analysis in the section “Interactions within SDGs”, we begin by examining the sub-indicators within each SDG (Fig.  5 , left), since they are often multi-faceted goals in themselves. With regard to the projected developments until 2030, the largest trade-offs that will need to be solved within the SDGs concern SDGs 2 ( Zero hunger ), 11 ( Sustainable cities and communities ), and 14 ( Life below water ). By contrast, the most synergetic elements are to be found within SDGs 3 ( Good health ), 7 ( Affordable and clean energy ), 8 ( Decent work and economic growth ), 9 ( Industry, innovation , and infrastructure ), and 16 ( Peace, justice , and strong institutions ). No results can be obtained here for goals that have insufficient trend data (SDG 10 and 12), or contain only one trend indicator (SDG 1 and 13), respectively.

Figure  5 (right) shows the interactions between projected SDG trends until 2030. It turns out that SDG 1 (No poverty) will have the most synergetic relationships with other SDGs on our way to 2030. We also expect SDGs 3 ( Good health ), 7 ( Affordable and clean energy ), 8 ( Decent work and economic growth ), and 9 ( Industry, innovation and infrastructure ) to have significant synergies with the other goals. The strongest mutually reinforcing relationships in our projections are between the following SDG pairs: 1–3, 1–7, 1–8, 1–9, and 8–9. Poverty alleviation and strengthening the economy, rooted in innovation and modern infrastructure, therefore continue to be the basis upon which many of the other SDGs can be achieved. However, trade-offs are still strongest for SDG 11 ( Sustainable cities and communities ) followed by SDGs 14 ( Life below water ), 16 ( Peace, justice, and strong institutions ) and 17 ( Partnerships for the goals ), and 13 ( Climate action ). In particular, the SDG pairs 9–11 and 11–13 constitute large trade-offs. This finding emphasizes the need to invest in research to foster innovations that can make our cities and communities more sustainable, as well as climate-friendly.

We extend the analysis of interactions between the projected SDG trends by examining high-income countries (HICs) (Fig.  6 ), middle-income countries (MICs) (Fig.  7 ), and low-income countries (LICs) (Fig.  8 ) separately. When examining the sub-indicators within each SDG (left-hand side of Figs  6 – 8 ), it becomes evident that the overall picture is very similar across all income groups: Countries will face similar challenges with regard to intra-goal consistency regardless of their current stage of development. The only notable differences concern SDGs 6 ( Clean water and sanitation ) and 15 ( Life on land ). For SDG 6, no synergies can be observed for HICs but their share rises for MICs and especially LICs. This finding lends support to the notion that as countries develop, the pressure to provide accessible and yet sustainable water systems will intensify in the future. By contrast, HICs show synergies regarding SDG 15 that are weaker for MICs and almost non-existent for LICs. Biodiversity protection is therefore beginning to pay off in developed regions, while the conditions for Life on land are projected to become more difficult especially in MICs and LICs. This finding sheds a light of urgency onto current public discussions around protecting green spaces, such as the Amazon forest versus economic interests.

Interactions between sub-indicators within (left) and between (right) projected SDG trends until 2030 for high-income countries. The color bars represent the shares of trade-offs (orange), synergies (green), and not-classifieds (yellow) observed within a goal. The gray bar depicts insufficient data for the analysis. The numbers in the boxes represent the number of data pairs used for each analysis. Icon images courtesy of United Nations

Interactions between sub-indicators within (left) and between (right) projected SDG trends until 2030 for middle-income countries. The color bars represent the shares of trade-offs (orange), synergies (green), and not-classifieds (yellow) observed within a goal. The gray bar depicts insufficient data for the analysis. The numbers in the boxes represent the number of data pairs used for each analysis. Icon images courtesy of United Nations

Turning to interactions between projected SDG trends until 2030 by income group (right-hand side of Figs  6 – 8 ), we see again a similar picture overall for all stages of development. It becomes evident, however, that for certain goals the share of projected trade-offs is lower compared to MICs and especially LICs. This is especially true for SDG 6 ( Clean water and sanitation ) and SDG 13 ( Climate action ). In other words: The pressure on pursuing climate action as well as clean water and sanitation that is not detrimental for achieving the other goals is likely to rise especially for LICs in the coming years. Unless HICs provide the technical and financial assistance necessary to let LICs benefit from state-of-the-art solutions in this regard, the development gap will rise even more at the expense of the planet and all its inhabitants—rich and poor.

Discussion: Towards a virtuous cycle of SDG progress

This study asked the timely questions: How have interactions within and between the 17 SDGs across countries evolved over time? Are we successful in moving from trade-offs to synergies? Most importantly, we provided the first analysis of interlinkages for projected SDG achievement trends until 2030.

For some goals we found positive developments with diminishing trade-offs and increasing synergies with other SDGs. This was particularly strong, for example, for SDG interactions between SDG 13 ( Climate action ) and SDG 9 ( Industry, innovation and infrastructure ), as well as SDG 13 and SDG 11 ( Sustainable cities and communities ). Such findings provide some support to the notion that climate-friendly infrastructure is beginning to spread, which not only improves the quality of life in cities and communities but mitigates the dangers of global warming, although our data do not provide evidence of a causal link. Likewise, synergies have begun to emerge in the recent past between SDG 5 ( Gender equality ) and SDG 16 ( Peace and justice, strong institutions ) indicating to some extent that as countries are getting better at providing strong institutions, this development may be beneficial to equality between men and women, or vice versa. In any event, such efforts will have to be significantly intensified over the next decade in order to reach the SDGs, and in these particular examples also the Paris Climate Accord and long overdue gender equality, respectively. Nonetheless, these best practices of turning trade-offs into synergies (see Fig.  2 left, Fig.  3 right, Fig.  4 right) may inform a learning process rooted in more in-depth research to expand the lessons onto other goals with more persistent trade-offs.

For numerous SDG interactions, though, the synergies are diminishing and trade-offs as well as non-associations are increasing. This worrying finding was particularly strong for the interactions, for instance, between SDG 7 ( Affordable and clean energy ) and SDG 1 ( No poverty ), as well as SDG 7 and SDG 3 ( Good health and well-being ). This means that as countries manage to lift millions out of poverty and provide much-needed health care, the demands on affordable and clean energy currently rises at a rate that jeopardizes progress regarding the Agenda 2030. Further investments in smart solutions and research on energy supply that can meet these new demands without putting too much pressure on planetary boundaries will be needed in the future.

Comparing our cross-sectional analysis with longitudinal analysis performed by Pradhan et al. ( 2017 ), we obtained similarities and differences. Our findings are similar in the sense that we also found, overall, a larger share of synergies than trade-offs within and across the goals. Both studies also highlight that eliminating poverty (SDG1) and improving health and well-being (SDG3) will have large synergies with other goals. However, one of the key differences is that we observed a larger share of not-classified associations in our cross-sectional analysis in comparison to the results of the longitudinal analysis by Pradhan et al. A reason for this is that our cross-sectional analysis covers a large spectrum of data from the whole range between developed and developing countries. By contrast, the aforementioned longitudinal analysis only has a comparatively narrow range of countries for the investigated period.

We provided the first analysis of future interactions between projected SDG trends until 2030, and found that SDG 1 ( No poverty ) will have the most synergetic relationships with other SDGs. In clear terms, this means that eliminating extreme poverty in developing countries and reducing relative poverty in more advanced nations will be a policy strategy that, given limited resources and the need for prioritization, will yield the most significant benefits beyond just this one policy goal of No poverty . Focusing on SDG 1 would therefore be the most promising strategy to ultimately start-off a virtuous cycle of SDG progress. For example, a family that no longer suffers from extreme poverty (SDG1) will be able to lead healthier lives for themselves and others, halting the spread of infectious diseases (SDG 3), contributing to a stronger economy (SDG 8), raising the means of implementation through tax payments (SDG 17) which will in turn enable public investments in infrastructure (SDG 9), which will provide education and other important services (SDG 4). The key challenge for policymakers here will then be to emulate such synergetic relationships with respect to other goals.

Despite those strong synergies, however, we were able to show that all SDG interactions between projected SDG trends until 2030 still contain a significant portion of trade-offs. This outlook into the future gives further reason for concern, and indeed casts a shadow on even most of the positive findings from our analysis of the past and present, for example regarding SDG 13 ( Climate action ). While we had hypothesized that synergies will occupy a larger portion in our projections of the interlinkages than trade-offs, the results indicated a nuanced picture with notable synergies for SDGs 1, 3, 7, 8 and 9, while especially SDGs 11, 13, 14, 16, and 17 are likely to have notable trade-offs with the other goals going forward.

Further distinguishing by income group has shown that, overall, countries will face similar challenges in terms of projected trade-offs and synergies across all stages of development. There were notable differences, however, especially to the detriment of LICs in the projected trade-offs for SDGs 6 ( Clean water and sanitation ) and 13 ( Climate action ) being larger than in HICs. This finding provides both an imperative and incentive for the latter to step up their technical and financial efforts to let LICs benefit from the latest advances which are already being implemented in HICs, e.g. in terms of the growing accessibility and affordability of solar panels in order to reduce emissions. It is very much in the interest of the rich countries themselves given the potentially harmful effects of a lack of climate protection by the growing populations in MICs and LICs on the HICs.

Our analysis is limited by the availability of data, which remains a challenge in SDG monitoring. A number of data gaps persist that prevent us from analyzing several SDG interactions, and the number of available SDG indicators fluctuates. Further efforts must be made by data providers to close these gaps in the future. This is especially important given the fact that 2015 is the baseline year in which the SDGs were signed into action, and most synergies/trade-offs will materialize with a time lag. We also emphasize that the method used in our paper, Spearman’s correlation, is useful to establish empirically whether improvements in one SDG go together with improvements (synergy) or deteriorations (trade-off) in another SDG. The method does not, however, allow us to determine causation. Where the terms of synergy and trade-off are used in our study, it happens in an understanding that causation is potentially from a to b, b to a, or both ways. This approach is in line with other studies on SDG interactions as quoted in our paper. In order to establish causation in the large number of interactions examined here, comprehensive additional analyses over time are required. They go beyond the scope of this paper but should be performed in future research (in a series of papers given the complexity of the task), and we hope to have sparked research along those lines with our initial inquiry.

In future research, we additionally recommend that the complexity of the SDG system be represented not only by a series of pairwise interactions but as a network, where both direct and indirect interactions produce synergies and trade-offs. The analysis according to income groups provides promising avenues for future research, and should in fact be complemented in the future by analyses that distinguish not just by income group but also by region or political system, for instance. Nonetheless, we hope that our initial findings present a useful inspiration for examining in more detail the promising patterns we have identified.

Our results may have important implications for global institutions, first and foremost the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), where countries meet annually to review progress on the SDGs. While the country-led Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) are now an established tool to showcase what each country is doing in terms of progressing towards Agenda 2030 using a basket of indicators, a perspective on the interlinkages between the goals is still missing despite being crucial to the fulfillment of the goals as our study indicates. The review process of the HLPF should therefore require countries to report on what is the status of SDG interlinkages in their country (in terms of existing and projected synergies and trade-offs), as well as to outline a policy strategy to deal with these interlinkages. Country processes of SDG implementation, as well as coordination mechanisms by international organizations on Agenda 2030 should make more use of the findings on SDG interlinkages. For example, by using the evidence as a tool to inform budget allocation with a view to maximizing effect of the money spent. Likewise, research on the SDGs should by default take into account the fact that there are important interlinkages between the goals, and incorporate such effects into analytical design as well as the formulation of implications.

All in all, our findings offer a starting point for how researchers and policymakers can resolve the challenge of interactions between the SDGs, in particular regarding the persistent issue of trade-offs. We have identified best practices where it has been possible over the last 9 years to turn trade-offs into synergies. Further research should build on these successful examples and explore in depth the drivers and mechanism that enabled them. At the same time, we have found evidence of a widespread and alarming inability to overcome trade-offs and indeed a deterioration in this regard for certain SDGs. Further research into how these trends can be reversed is urgently needed as otherwise they will seriously threaten the achievement of the UN Agenda 2030.

Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from www.sdgindex.org .

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Acknowledgements

CK and PP designed study; CK, AW, and PP collected and analyzed data; CK and PP wrote manuscript. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Bertelsmann Stiftung. AW acknowledges funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the SUSFOOD project (grant agreement No. 01DP17035). PP acknowledges funding from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building, and Nuclear Safety for the I-CCC project (Contract No. 81227263) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under for the European calculator project (grant agreement No. 730459).

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Kroll, C., Warchold, A. & Pradhan, P. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Are we successful in turning trade-offs into synergies?. Palgrave Commun 5 , 140 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0335-5

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0335-5

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• The Military Staff Committee shall be responsible under the Security Council for the strategic direction of any armed forces placed at the disposal of the Security Council. Questions relating to the command of such forces shall be worked out subsequently.
• The Military Staff Committee, with the authorization of the Security Council and after consultation with appropriate regional agencies, may establish regional sub-committees.
• The action required to carry out the decisions of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security shall be taken by all the Members of the United Nations or by some of them, as the Security Council may determine.
• Such decisions shall be carried out by the Members of the United Nations directly and through their action in the appropriate international agencies of which they are members.

The Members of the United Nations shall join in affording mutual assistance in carrying out the measures decided upon by the Security Council.

If preventive or enforcement measures against any state are taken by the Security Council, any other state, whether a Member of the United Nations or not, which finds itself confronted with special economic problems arising from the carrying out of those measures shall have the right to consult the Security Council with regard to a solution of those problems.

Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.

Chapter VIII: Regional Arrangements

• Nothing in the present Charter precludes the existence of regional arrangements or agencies for dealing with such matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security as are appropriate for regional action provided that such arrangements or agencies and their activities are consistent with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations.
• The Members of the United Nations entering into such arrangements or constituting such agencies shall make every effort to achieve pacific settlement of local disputes through such regional arrangements or by such regional agencies before referring them to the Security Council.
• The Security Council shall encourage the development of pacific settlement of local disputes through such regional arrangements or by such regional agencies either on the initiative of the states concerned or by reference from the Security Council.
• This Article in no way impairs the application of Articles 34 and 35.
• The Security Council shall, where appropriate, utilize such regional arrangements or agencies for enforcement action under its authority. But no enforcement action shall be taken under regional arrangements or by regional agencies without the authorization of the Security Council, with the exception of measures against any enemy state, as defined in paragraph 2 of this Article, provided for pursuant to Article 107 or in regional arrangements directed against renewal of aggressive policy on the part of any such state, until such time as the Organization may, on request of the Governments concerned, be charged with the responsibility for preventing further aggression by such a state.
• The term enemy state as used in paragraph 1 of this Article applies to any state which during the Second World War has been an enemy of any signatory of the present Charter.

The Security Council shall at all times be kept fully informed of activities undertaken or in contemplation under regional arrangements or by regional agencies for the maintenance of international peace and security.

Chapter IX: International Economic and Social Cooperation

With a view to the creation of conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, the United Nations shall promote:

• higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development;
• solutions of international economic, social, health, and related problems; and international cultural and educational cooperation; and
• universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.

All Members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55.

• The various specialized agencies, established by intergovernmental agreement and having wide international responsibilities, as defined in their basic instruments, in economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and related fields, shall be brought into relationship with the United Nations in accordance with the provisions of Article 63.
• Such agencies thus brought into relationship with the United Nations are hereinafter referred to as specialized agencies.

The Organization shall make recommendations for the co-ordination of the policies and activities of the specialized agencies.

The Organization shall, where appropriate, initiate negotiations among the states concerned for the creation of any new specialized agencies required for the accomplishment of the purposes set forth in Article 55.

Responsibility for the discharge of the functions of the Organization set forth in this Chapter shall be vested in the General Assembly and, under the authority of the General Assembly, in the Economic and Social Council, which shall have for this purpose the powers set forth in Chapter X.

Chapter X: The Economic and Social Council

• The Economic and Social Council shall consist of fifty-four Members of the United Nations elected by the General Assembly.
• Subject to the provisions of paragraph 3, eighteen members of the Economic and Social Council shall be elected each year for a term of three years. A retiring member shall be eligible for immediate re-election.
• At the first election after the increase in the membership of the Economic and Social Council from twenty-seven to fifty-four members, in addition to the members elected in place of the nine members whose term of office expires at the end of that year, twenty-seven additional members shall be elected. Of these twenty-seven additional members, the term of office of nine members so elected shall expire at the end of one year, and of nine other members at the end of two years, in accordance with arrangements made by the General Assembly.
• Each member of the Economic and Social Council shall have one representative.
• The Economic and Social Council may make or initiate studies and reports with respect to international economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and related matters and may make recommendations with respect to any such matters to the General Assembly to the Members of the United Nations, and to the specialized agencies concerned.
• It may make recommendations for the purpose of promoting respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.
• It may prepare draft conventions for submission to the General Assembly, with respect to matters falling within its competence.
• It may call, in accordance with the rules prescribed by the United Nations, international conferences on matters falling within its competence.
• The Economic and Social Council may enter into agreements with any of the agencies referred to in Article 57, defining the terms on which the agency concerned shall be brought into relationship with the United Nations. Such agreements shall be subject to approval by the General Assembly.
• It may co-ordinate the activities of the specialized agencies through consultation with and recommendations to such agencies and through recommendations to the General Assembly and to the Members of the United Nations.
• The Economic and Social Council may take appropriate steps to obtain regular reports from the specialized agencies. It may make arrangements with the Members of the United Nations and with the specialized agencies to obtain reports on the steps taken to give effect to its own recommendations and to recommendations on matters falling within its competence made by the General Assembly.
• It may communicate its observations on these reports to the General Assembly.

The Economic and Social Council may furnish information to the Security Council and shall assist the Security Council upon its request.

• The Economic and Social Council shall perform such functions as fall within its competence in connection with the carrying out of the recommendations of the General Assembly.
• It may, with the approval of the General Assembly, perform services at the request of Members of the United Nations and at the request of specialized agencies.
• It shall perform such other functions as are specified elsewhere in the present Charter or as may be assigned to it by the General Assembly.
• Each member of the Economic and Social Council shall have one vote.
• Decisions of the Economic and Social Council shall be made by a majority of the members present and voting.

The Economic and Social Council shall set up commissions in economic and social fields and for the promotion of human rights, and such other commissions as may be required for the performance of its functions.

The Economic and Social Council shall invite any Member of the United Nations to participate, without vote, in its deliberations on any matter of particular concern to that Member.

The Economic and Social Council may make arrangements for representatives of the specialized agencies to participate, without vote, in its deliberations and in those of the commissions established by it, and for its representatives to participate in the deliberations of the specialized agencies.

The Economic and Social Council may make suitable arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations which are concerned with matters within its competence. Such arrangements may be made with international organizations and, where appropriate, with national organizations after consultation with the Member of the United Nations concerned.

• The Economic and Social Council shall adopt its own rules of procedure, including the method of selecting its President.
• The Economic and Social Council shall meet as required in accordance with its rules, which shall include provision for the convening of meetings on the request of a majority of its members.

Chapter XI: Declaration Regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories

Members of the United Nations which have or assume responsibilities for the administration of territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government recognize the principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount, and accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote to the utmost, within the system of international peace and security established by the present Charter, the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories, and, to this end:

• to ensure, with due respect for the culture of the peoples concerned, their political, economic, social, and educational advancement, their just treatment, and their protection against abuses;
• to develop self-government, to take due account of the political aspirations of the peoples, and to assist them in the progressive development of their free political institutions, according to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and their varying stages of advancement;
• to further international peace and security;
• to promote constructive measures of development, to encourage research, and to co-operate with one another and, when and where appropriate, with specialized international bodies with a view to the practical achievement of the social, economic, and scientific purposes set forth in this Article; and
• to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General for information purposes, subject to such limitation as security and constitutional considerations may require, statistical and other information of a technical nature relating to economic, social, and educational conditions in the territories for which they are respectively responsible other than those territories to which Chapters XII and XIII apply.

Members of the United Nations also agree that their policy in respect of the territories to which this Chapter applies, no less than in respect of their metropolitan areas, must be based on the general principle of good-neighbourliness, due account being taken of the interests and well-being of the rest of the world, in social, economic, and commercial matters.

Chapter XII: International Trusteeship System

The United Nations shall establish under its authority an international trusteeship system for the administration and supervision of such territories as may be placed thereunder by subsequent individual agreements. These territories are hereinafter referred to as trust territories.

The basic objectives of the trusteeship system, in accordance with the Purposes of the United Nations laid down in Article 1 of the present Charter, shall be:

• to promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the trust territories, and their progressive development towards self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, and as may be provided by the terms of each trusteeship agreement;
• to encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion, and to encourage recognition of the interdependence of the peoples of the world; and
• to ensure equal treatment in social, economic, and commercial matters for all Members of the United Nations and their nationals, and also equal treatment for the latter in the administration of justice, without prejudice to the attainment of the foregoing objectives and subject to the provisions of Article 80.
• territories now held under mandate;
• territories which may be detached from enemy states as a result of the Second World War; and
• territories voluntarily placed under the system by states responsible for their administration.
• It will be a matter for subsequent agreement as to which territories in the foregoing categories will be brought under the trusteeship system and upon what terms.

The trusteeship system shall not apply to territories which have become Members of the United Nations, relationship among which shall be based on respect for the principle of sovereign equality.

The terms of trusteeship for each territory to be placed under the trusteeship system, including any alteration or amendment, shall be agreed upon by the states directly concerned, including the mandatory power in the case of territories held under mandate by a Member of the United Nations, and shall be approved as provided for in Articles 83 and 85.

• Except as may be agreed upon in individual trusteeship agreements, made under Articles 77, 79, and 81, placing each territory under the trusteeship system, and until such agreements have been concluded, nothing in this Chapter shall be construed in or of itself to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments to which Members of the United Nations may respectively be parties.
• Paragraph 1 of this Article shall not be interpreted as giving grounds for delay or postponement of the negotiation and conclusion of agreements for placing mandated and other territories under the trusteeship system as provided for in Article 77.

The trusteeship agreement shall in each case include the terms under which the trust territory will be administered and designate the authority which will exercise the administration of the trust territory. Such authority, hereinafter called the administering authority, may be one or more states or the Organization itself.

There may be designated, in any trusteeship agreement, a strategic area or areas which may include part or all of the trust territory to which the agreement applies, without prejudice to any special agreement or agreements made under Article 43.

• All functions of the United Nations relating to strategic areas, including the approval of the terms of the trusteeship agreements and of their alteration or amendment shall be exercised by the Security Council.
• The basic objectives set forth in Article 76 shall be applicable to the people of each strategic area.
• The Security Council shall, subject to the provisions of the trusteeship agreements and without prejudice to security considerations, avail itself of the assistance of the Trusteeship Council to perform those functions of the United Nations under the trusteeship system relating to political, economic, social, and educational matters in the strategic areas.

It shall be the duty of the administering authority to ensure that the trust territory shall play its part in the maintenance of international peace and security. To this end the administering authority may make use of volunteer forces, facilities, and assistance from the trust territory in carrying out the obligations towards the Security Council undertaken in this regard by the administering authority, as well as for local defence and the maintenance of law and order within the trust territory.

• The functions of the United Nations with regard to trusteeship agreements for all areas not designated as strategic, including the approval of the terms of the trusteeship agreements and of their alteration or amendment, shall be exercised by the General Assembly.
• The Trusteeship Council, operating under the authority of the General Assembly shall assist the General Assembly in carrying out these functions.

Chapter XIII: The Trusteeship Council

• those Members administering trust territories;
• such of those Members mentioned by name in Article 23 as are not administering trust territories; and
• as many other Members elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly as may be necessary to ensure that the total number of members of the Trusteeship Council is equally divided between those Members of the United Nations which administer trust territories and those which do not.
• Each member of the Trusteeship Council shall designate one specially qualified person to represent it therein.

The General Assembly and, under its authority, the Trusteeship Council, in carrying out their functions, may:

• consider reports submitted by the administering authority;
• accept petitions and examine them in consultation with the administering authority;
• provide for periodic visits to the respective trust territories at times agreed upon with the administering authority; and
• take these and other actions in conformity with the terms of the trusteeship agreements.

The Trusteeship Council shall formulate a questionnaire on the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants of each trust territory, and the administering authority for each trust territory within the competence of the General Assembly shall make an annual report to the General Assembly upon the basis of such questionnaire.

• Each member of the Trusteeship Council shall have one vote.
• Decisions of the Trusteeship Council shall be made by a majority of the members present and voting.
• The Trusteeship Council shall adopt its own rules of procedure, including the method of selecting its President.
• The Trusteeship Council shall meet as required in accordance with its rules, which shall include provision for the convening of meetings on the request of a majority of its members.

The Trusteeship Council shall, when appropriate, avail itself of the assistance of the Economic and Social Council and of the specialized agencies in regard to matters with which they are respectively concerned.

Chapter XIV: The International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice shall be the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It shall function in accordance with the annexed Statute, which is based upon the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice and forms an integral part of the present Charter.

• All Members of the United Nations are ipso facto parties to the Statute of the International Court of Justice.
• A state which is not a Member of the United Nations may become a party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice on conditions to be determined in each case by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
• Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice in any case to which it is a party.
• If any party to a case fails to perform the obligations incumbent upon it under a judgment rendered by the Court, the other party may have recourse to the Security Council, which may, if it deems necessary, make recommendations or decide upon measures to be taken to give effect to the judgment.

Nothing in the present Charter shall prevent Members of the United Nations from entrusting the solution of their differences to other tribunals by virtue of agreements already in existence or which may be concluded in the future.

• The General Assembly or the Security Council may request the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on any legal question.
• Other organs of the United Nations and specialized agencies, which may at any time be so authorized by the General Assembly, may also request advisory opinions of the Court on legal questions arising within the scope of their activities.

Chapter XV: The Secretariat

The Secretariat shall comprise a Secretary-General and such staff as the Organization may require. The Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. He shall be the chief administrative officer of the Organization.

The Secretary-General shall act in that capacity in all meetings of the General Assembly, of the Security Council, of the Economic and Social Council, and of the Trusteeship Council, and shall perform such other functions as are entrusted to him by these organs. The Secretary-General shall make an annual report to the General Assembly on the work of the Organization.

The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.

Article 100

• In the performance of their duties the Secretary-General and the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority external to the Organization. They shall refrain from any action which might reflect on their position as international officials responsible only to the Organization.
• Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to respect the exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and the staff and not to seek to influence them in the discharge of their responsibilities.

Article 101

• The staff shall be appointed by the Secretary-General under regulations established by the General Assembly.
• Appropriate staffs shall be permanently assigned to the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, and, as required, to other organs of the United Nations. These staffs shall form a part of the Secretariat.
• The paramount consideration in the employment of the staff and in the determination of the conditions of service shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Due regard shall be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible.

Chapter XVI: Miscellaneous Provisions

Article 102.

• Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by it.
• No party to any such treaty or international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article may invoke that treaty or agreement before any organ of the United Nations.

Article 103

In the event of a conflict between the obligations of the Members of the United Nations under the present Charter and their obligations under any other international agreement, their obligations under the present Charter shall prevail.

Article 104

The Organization shall enjoy in the territory of each of its Members such legal capacity as may be necessary for the exercise of its functions and the fulfilment of its purposes.

Article 105

• The Organization shall enjoy in the territory of each of its Members such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the fulfilment of its purposes.
• Representatives of the Members of the United Nations and officials of the Organization shall similarly enjoy such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the independent exercise of their functions in connection with the Organization.
• The General Assembly may make recommendations with a view to determining the details of the application of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article or may propose conventions to the Members of the United Nations for this purpose.

Chapter XVII: Transitional Security Arrangements

Article 106.

Pending the coming into force of such special agreements referred to in Article 43 as in the opinion of the Security Council enable it to begin the exercise of its responsibilities under Article 42, the parties to the Four-Nation Declaration, signed at Moscow, 30 October 1943, and France, shall, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 5 of that Declaration, consult with one another and as occasion requires with other Members of the United Nations with a view to such joint action on behalf of the Organization as may be necessary for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security.

Article 107

Nothing in the present Charter shall invalidate or preclude action, in relation to any state which during the Second World War has been an enemy of any signatory to the present Charter, taken or authorized as a result of that war by the Governments having responsibility for such action.

Chapter XVIII: Amendments

Article 108.

Amendments to the present Charter shall come into force for all Members of the United Nations when they have been adopted by a vote of two thirds of the members of the General Assembly and ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by two thirds of the Members of the United Nations, including all the permanent members of the Security Council.

Article 109

• A General Conference of the Members of the United Nations for the purpose of reviewing the present Charter may be held at a date and place to be fixed by a two-thirds vote of the members of the General Assembly and by a vote of any nine members of the Security Council. Each Member of the United Nations shall have one vote in the conference.
• Any alteration of the present Charter recommended by a two-thirds vote of the conference shall take effect when ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by two thirds of the Members of the United Nations including all the permanent members of the Security Council.
• If such a conference has not been held before the tenth annual session of the General Assembly following the coming into force of the present Charter, the proposal to call such a conference shall be placed on the agenda of that session of the General Assembly, and the conference shall be held if so decided by a majority vote of the members of the General Assembly and by a vote of any seven members of the Security Council.

Chapter XIX: Ratification and Signature

Article 110.

• The present Charter shall be ratified by the signatory states in accordance with their respective constitutional processes.
• The ratifications shall be deposited with the Government of the United States of America, which shall notify all the signatory states of each deposit as well as the Secretary-General of the Organization when he has been appointed.
• The present Charter shall come into force upon the deposit of ratifications by the Republic of China, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America, and by a majority of the other signatory states. A protocol of the ratifications deposited shall thereupon be drawn up by the Government of the United States of America which shall communicate copies thereof to all the signatory states.
• The states signatory to the present Charter which ratify it after it has come into force will become original Members of the United Nations on the date of the deposit of their respective ratifications.

Article 111

The present Charter, of which the Chinese, French, Russian, English, and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America. Duly certified copies thereof shall be transmitted by that Government to the Governments of the other signatory states.

In Faith Whereof the representatives of the Governments of the United Nations have signed the present Charter. DONE at the city of San Francisco the twenty-sixth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and forty-five.

Note on Amendments to Articles 23, 27, 61, 109

Amendments to Articles 23, 27 and 61 of the Charter were adopted by the General Assembly on 17 December 1963 and came into force on 31 August 1965. A further amendment to Article 61 was adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 1971, and came into force on 24 September 1973. An amendment to Article 109, adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 1965, came into force on 12 June 1968.

The amendment to Article 23 enlarges the membership of the Security Council from eleven to fifteen. The amended Article 27 provides that decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members (formerly seven) and on all other matters by an affirmative vote of nine members (formerly seven), including the concurring votes of the five permanent members of the Security Council.

The amendment to Article 61, which entered into force on 31 August 1965, enlarged the membership of the Economic and Social Council from eighteen to twenty-seven. The subsequent amendment to that Article, which entered into force on 24 September 1973, further increased the membership of the Council from twenty-seven to fifty-four.

The amendment to Article 109, which relates to the first paragraph of that Article, provides that a General Conference of Member States for the purpose of reviewing the Charter may be held at a date and place to be fixed by a two-thirds vote of the members of the General Assembly and by a vote of any nine members (formerly seven) of the Security Council. Paragraph 3 of Article 109, which deals with the consideration of a possible review conference during the tenth regular session of the General Assembly, has been retained in its original form in its reference to a "vote, of any seven members of the Security Council", the paragraph having been acted upon in 1955 by the General Assembly, at its tenth regular session, and by the Security Council.

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