 Digitalization has transformed the world economy and the postal sector. Posts have grown to offer a wide range of services suitable for the 21st century's digital economy, ranging from mail, parcels and financial services to innovative and inclusive solutions for citizens, business and territories worldwide. To effectively track and monitor the evolving nature of the postal sector around the world, the Universal Postal Union developed the Integrated Index for Postal Development, two IPD, which measures four dimensions of postal development. Reliability, Reach, Relevance, Resilience. Switzerland has retained the first rank for the second year in a row because of its strong balanced performance in reliability, reach, relevance and resilience, the four dimensions of the two IPD. The Swiss Post offers a well-diversified portfolio across all postal segments and Swiss citizens trust their post, positioning it at the heart of their daily life from e-shopping to bill payments, savings and digital identity. The Netherlands has moved up by two places in the ranking compared with the previous release, thanks to its impressive connectivity with international partners and a fast and reliable service. Japan has retained the third place thanks to a strong offering of services, especially financial. However, the strong performance of the top three does not reflect the global trend for the sector, which is being affected by growing gaps in postal development between and within regions. In spite of these challenges, there have been some encouraging results. For example, Poland ranked sixth worldwide, Singapore ranked seventh, Nigeria ranked 51st, Brazil ranked 44th and Tunisia ranked 49th. As a specialised agency of the UN system, the UPU is expected to support its member countries in efforts to measure the contributions of the postal sector to the UN SDGs. With a global network of over 677,000 post offices, 5.3 million staff and physical infrastructure covering 192 countries, the postal sector is a key contributor to national and international infrastructure. It plays an important role in national development and in the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs. Research by the UPU shows that postal development goes hand in hand with high performance in the SDGs. The postal sector contributes to the achievement of Goal 8, decent work and economic growth, through the promotion of financial inclusion, often granting banking access to poor and isolated communities. The sector also contributes to Goal 9, industry, innovation and infrastructure, through the promotion of logistics services and advice to build more robust global value chains. When natural disasters put countries on their knees, the postal sector shows considerable resilience, being capable of restarting operations before other elements of physical infrastructure. The Integrated Index for Postal Development relies on the Universal Postal Union's big data, statistics and key surveys. In this sense, it is a unique tool promoting data-driven development. Ministries, regulatory agencies and operators undoubtedly use it to achieve postal excellence in their countries. And this matters, because the postal sector continues to be a key vehicle of socio-economic development and an essential instrument for the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.