Disasters Weaken the Synergy Effects among the Global Sustainable Development Goals

This research dataset aims to systematically analyze the impact of natural disasters on the synergy effects among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), providing scientific evidence for understanding how disaster shocks disrupt the global sustainable development process. The dataset is constructed from panel data covering 137 countries with relatively complete cross-national data over the period 2010–2022, encompassing multiple dimensions including sustainable development performance, exposure to natural disasters, socioeconomic characteristics, and governance capacity. The data show that scores for 13 SDGs (SDG1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 17), calculated using the entropy method, are used to construct two types of synergy indicators: first, the composite synergy index among 13 SDGs (CSSDGs), which measures the overall coupling coordination degree of the 13 goals and reflects the systemic synergy level of national sustainable development; and second, the synergy index between pair of SDGs (PSSDGs), comprising 78 pairwise combinations, used to identify interactive relationships between specific goal pairs. The SDG indicators data are sourced from the World Bank database and the Global SDG Indicators Database, while the mediating and control variables are primarily obtained from the World Bank database. Natural disaster data are drawn from the EM-DAT International Disaster Database, focusing on nine severe disaster types: floods, droughts, earthquakes, storms, extreme temperatures, wildfires, epidemics, landslides, and volcanic activity. The core explanatory variable is the logarithm of disaster duration (LnDuration), supplemented by the logarithm of death tolls (LnDeath) and the logarithm of affected population (LnAffected) for robustness checks. Key findings from the study include: natural disasters significantly weaken the synergy effects among SDGs, and this negative impact persists for up to two years, with droughts and extreme temperatures having particularly pronounced effects. Mechanism analysis reveals that human capital and government governance mitigate these negative impacts, whereas trade openness exacerbates them. Heterogeneity analysis shows that lower-middle-income countries, as well as countries in Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa, are more vulnerable to the disruptive effects of disasters on SDG synergies. Furthermore, disasters particularly weaken the synergies between SDG1 (No Poverty) and other goals, and between SDG3 (Good Health and Well-being) and other goals in low-income countries.本研究数据集旨在系统性剖析自然灾害对可持续发展目标（Sustainable Development Goals，SDGs）间协同效应的影响，为理解灾害冲击如何扰乱全球可持续发展进程提供科学佐证。该数据集基于2010—2022年覆盖137个数据较为完备的跨国面板数据构建，涵盖可持续发展绩效、自然灾害暴露程度、社会经济特征与治理能力等多个维度。 研究采用熵值法计算得到13项可持续发展目标的得分（SDG1、SDG2、SDG3、SDG5、SDG7、SDG8、SDG9、SDG11、SDG12、SDG13、SDG14、SDG15、SDG17），以此构建两类协同指标：其一为13项SDGs间综合协同指数（Composite Synergy Index among 13 SDGs，CSSDGs），用于衡量13项目标的整体耦合协调程度，反映一国可持续发展的系统协同水平；其二为双目标协同指数（Pairwise Synergy Index between SDG Pairs，PSSDGs），包含78组两两目标组合，用于识别特定目标对间的互动关系。SDG指标数据来源于世界银行数据库与全球SDG指标数据库，中介变量与控制变量主要取自世界银行数据库。自然灾害数据取自EM-DAT国际灾害数据库，聚焦9类严重灾害类型：洪水、干旱、地震、风暴、极端温度、野火、流行病、滑坡与火山活动。核心解释变量为灾害持续时长的对数（LnDuration），辅以死亡人数对数（LnDeath）与受影响人口对数（LnAffected）用于稳健性检验。 本研究的核心结论如下：自然灾害会显著削弱SDGs间的协同效应，且该负面影响可持续长达两年，其中干旱与极端温度的影响尤为突出。机制分析表明，人力资本与政府治理能够缓解此类负面影响，而贸易开放度则会加剧该负面影响。异质性分析显示，中低收入国家以及欧洲与中亚、南亚、东亚及太平洋、撒哈拉以南非洲地区的国家，更易受到灾害对SDG协同关系的破坏。此外，灾害会尤其削弱无贫穷（No Poverty，SDG1）与其他目标间的协同效应，以及低收入国家中良好健康与福祉（Good Health and Well-being，SDG3）与其他目标间的协同效应。