Sustainable Development of Selected EU Countries in Age of Globalisation – A Case Study

Abstract

Sustainable development has belonged to strategic priorities of all developed countries since the last century. Along with globalisation, a discussion has started whether globalisation and sustainable development are in opposite or not. Many various sustainable development indicators are recognized by The European Council. They are grouped in ten headline indicators (SDI 1-10). According to SDI 1-10 metrics, the European Council assesses sustainable development of each EU country. Developed EU countries are performing better in comparison with lower-income economies from the point of view of normalised sustainable development indicators. Four countries are selected for the case study evaluating their performance in sustainable development in age of globalisation. Sweden represents the group of the most successful countries in EU in sustainability building. On the other side, Poland represents developing EU countries with low values of indicators but with the highest benefit from the EU investments and funding. The Czech Republic and Estonia demonstrate middle developed countries within the EU. The selected countries have implement the EU-formulated sustainability development strategy in different ways with consideration of different country’s historical background, location within the EU, population, GDP, achievement in socio-economic development, sustainable consumption and production, social inclusion, demographic changes, public health, climate change and energy, sustainable transport, natural resources, global partnership, and good governance. Data are analysed by various methods and some results are visualised by means of cartographic outputs.