The recent adoption of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) confirms once again the growing importance of indicators in the context of ‘evidence-based decision making'. A sound indicator framework can turn the SDGs and their targets into a management tool to help countries develop implementation strategies, allocate resources and monitor progress. Indicator-based assessments will be a cornerstone of measuring progress on the SDGs through to 2030 at national, regional, global and thematic levels. Recent examples of indicator-based assessments and reports present useful case studies on emerging practice in the context of the SDGs, providing insights into the approaches and methods being adopted to measure and report on progress on the SDGs. In this context, this paper presents the recent experience of the United Nations in undertaking an indicator-based assessment for the Arab Sustainable Development Report (ASDR). The paper presents the innovative conceptual framework and approach used in the ASDR for benchmarking progress and analysing trends. The approach firstly takes a thematic ‘snapshot' of progress and trends over two decades across 56 sustainable development indicators; a nested, integrated conceptual framework is then applied for a more in-depth exploration of interlinkages and dynamics among the SDGs. The approach emphasises the need to place human dignity and well-being at the core of the analysis; linkages to the natural resource base; the importance of peace, governance and institutions as crosscutting factors; and the role of the means of implementation for addressing gaps. This novel approach can be transferred and adapted to other regional contexts, and it is particularly relevant for developing regions where data gaps and the absence of targets present methodological challenges for any assessment.