Skip to main content

A Multi-Criteria Approach for the Classification of EU Countries with Respect to their Progress Towards Sustainable Development

  • Conference paper
Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management
  • 26 Accesses

Abstract

This paper presents a multicriteria approach capable to combine the abundant and sometimes conflicting information provided by several economic, social and environmental indicators. The aim is to illustrate on a comparative basis the performance of EU countries with respect to each single dimension and the risks associated with the overall goal of sustainable development. Since no policy maker or expert is capable to express clear-cut value judgements about the relative importance of the examined indicators we apply an objective weighting procedure, which is deriving weights according to the “richness” of the information provided by each indicator. The aggregate scores calculated in each single dimension are used to construct a sustainability matrix. The obtained results are revealing 3 groups of countries which present a rather similar performance, especially as regards the economic and social dimension of sustainable development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Munda G., Nijcamp P., Rietveld P. Qualitative multicriteria evaluation for environmental management. Ecological Economics 1994; 10: 97–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ferrarini A., Bodini A., Becchi M. Environmental quality and sustainability in the province of Reggio Emilia: using multi-criteria analysis to assess and compare municipal performance. Journal of Environmental Management 2001; 63: 117–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lackshminarayan P.G., Johnson S.R., Bouzaher A. A multi-objective approach to integrating agricultural, economic and environmental policies. Journal of Environmental Management 1995; 45: 365–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Belton V., Stewart T. Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: an integrated approach. Kluwer Acad. Publishers, Dordrecht, 2002.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Eurostat: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat. Data. Structural Indicators

    Google Scholar 

  6. Zeleny M. Multiple Criteria Decision Making. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1982.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. Diakoulaki D., Mavrotas, G., Papayannakis L. Determining objective weights in multiple criteria problems: The CRITIC method. Computers and Operations Research 1995. 22: 763–770.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2004 Springer-Verlag London

About this paper

Cite this paper

Diakoulaki, D., Mavrotas, G. (2004). A Multi-Criteria Approach for the Classification of EU Countries with Respect to their Progress Towards Sustainable Development. In: Spitzer, C., Schmocker, U., Dang, V.N. (eds) Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-410-4_407

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-410-4_407

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-1057-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-85729-410-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics