Multidimensional Comparative Analysis of the Level of Sustainable Development of the European Union Member States Using Taxonomic Methods

The aim of the paper is an identification and assessment of the level of sustainable development of the European Union members states using taxonomic methods. The starting point for conducting the multidimensional comparative analysis was adopting three sets of diagnostic variables characterizing the level of sustainable development of the analyzed European Union members states in terms of their fundamental dimensions, i.e. social, economic and environmental. The main tool used for creating the ranking was the method of standardized sum of PERKAL indicator, which made possible conducting a classification procedure based on analysis and ordering objects described by means of many diagnostic variables. The paper used numerical data published by EUROSTAT in 2016. Performing the multidimensional comparative analysis for the regions in Poland and Slovakia allowed to order them according to the value of determined synthetic measure and classification to three groups revealing different levels of sustainable development. The results of conducted analysis indicate considerable differences of the studied objects both due to their economic, social and environment dimensions, and in the context of their sustainability level.