Diversification of the level of sustainable development in EU member states with the use of taxonomic methods

Abstrakt

The aim of this article is to define the degree of sustainable development in EU member states with the use of various taxonomic methods. The first part of the article addresses the issues related to the definition of sustainable development and the methods used to assess the level of this phenomenon. The second part is dedicated to the assessment of the level of sustainable development in EU member states on the basis of statistical data from the year 2010 and 2015. The possible use of multidimensional comparative analysis was pointed out to define the degree of sustainable development. Linear classification of EU member states in terms of sustainable development level was carried out on the basis of standard and non-standard methods. Moreover convergence of the classifications was examined. Ward’s method and the PAM method were used to group EU member states in terms of
similar sustainable development level.