| 1 | Access to timely essential surgery | Fraction of the population that can access, within 2 hours, a hospital capable of performing Caesarean section, laparotomy, and open fracture repair under appropriate anaesthetic. | By 2030, each nation must have at least 80% coverage of basic surgical and anaethetic services. |
| 2 | Specialist (licensed) surgical workforce density (SAO density) | Number of active specialist surgical, anaesthetic, and obstetric physicians per 100,000 population. | By 2030, every country has at least 20 surgical, anaesthetic, and obstetric physicians per 100,000 people. |
| 3 | Perioperative mortality | Before discharge or within 30 days, the all-cause death rate in patients who have had a procedure in an operating theatre, divided by the total number of procedures, expressed as a percentage. | Tracking perioperative mortality in 80% of nations by 2020 and 100% of countries by 2030; in 2020, review global data and create national objectives for 2030. |
| 4 | Total surgical volume | Procedures performed in an operating room per 100,000 people each year. | 80% of nations tracking surgical volume by 2020, and 100% of countries tracking surgical volume by 2030; a minimum of 5,000 operations per 100,000 people by 2030. |
| 5 | Protection against impoverishing surgical care | Share of households safeguarded from poverty by direct out-of-pocket payments for surgical and anaesthetic treatment. | 100% Protection from out-of-pocket expenditures for necessary surgical and anesthetic services by 2030. |