The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations are a global call to eradicate poverty, safeguard the environment, and provide universal peace and prosperity by the year 2030. The 17 objectives include a range of global concerns, including health, education, inequality, environmental degradation, and climate change. Countries located in the same geographical region share socio-cultural similarities, which may lead to the discovery of common SDG indicators. Previous research has not paid enough attention to identifying SDG indicators that have a greater impact on changing the total SDG scores. Therefore, this research aims to identify the most influential indicators affecting changes in total SDG scores, with a focus on West Asia, specifically Iran and its neighboring western nations. To do so, we used the Pearson correlation analysis to identify the key indicators affecting changes in the total SDG scores of nations. In the following, we used the MARCOS decision-making technique to rank nations based on the effectiveness of SDG indicators. Identifying the key SDG indicators that affect changes in total SDG scores will help to compare the nations’ sustainable development processes. Moreover, it will be easier for decision-makers and regional sustainable development policymakers to manage and understand the situation.