Search Results (44)

Progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) is currently insufficient to achieve. It is particularly important to ensure that all people have access to sustainable, reliable and affordable energy. As SDG7 is linked to other goals, a lack of progress in its implementation could disrupt the entire sustainable development process. The aim of our article is to compare selected countries around the world in terms of the degree of SDG7 implementation and its dynamics in the years 2000–2022. We assessed the degree of SDG7 implementation using Hellwig’s method in the dynamic approach, and we compared the dynamics of the degree of implementation using the dynamic time warping (DTW) method and hierarchical clustering. The cluster of countries with the highest degree of SDG7 implementation included the European countries of Norway, Sweden and Iceland. The lowest degree of implementation was observed in Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The dynamic approach to the problem allowed us to conclude that there was an increase in the synthetic measure in all the countries analysed in the period 2000–2022, with the strongest increase observed in the countries with the lowest initial degree of SDG7 implementation (Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan). Full article

This study examines regional disparities and convergence dynamics in paediatric healthcare accessibility across Poland’s 16 provinces between 2010 and 2023. A synthetic Paediatric Service Accessibility Index (PSA Index), constructed with Hellwig’s method, is combined with socio-economic indicators such as employment, urbanisation, and disposable income to evaluate the alignment between healthcare provision and regional development. The analysis employs non-parametric regional tests (Spearman’s rank correlation, Wilcoxon signed-rank test) and national panel regression models (Fixed and Random Effects). Results demonstrate significant spatial heterogeneity: economically advanced regions, including Mazowieckie and Małopolskie, show moderate to strong convergence between socio-economic progress and healthcare access, whereas structurally weaker regions such as Lubuskie and Podkarpackie reveal persistent divergence. Disposable income and urbanisation emerge as significant predictors of healthcare availability (p < 0.01), while employment is not statistically significant. The findings highlight enduring inequalities that are relevant in the context of the European Union’s (EU) cohesion policy and indicate that economic growth alone is insufficient to ensure equitable access to paediatric care. Comparative evidence from Romania, Bulgaria, and Spain points to similar patterns and emphasises the importance of EU Structural and Investment Funds in promoting healthcare equity. The study concludes that territorially sensitive, multidimensional interventions are necessary to advance social sustainability and to align healthcare infrastructure with the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Full article

Implementing the provisions related to energy transition, decarbonization, and, thus, the implementation of the Green Deal in the European Union requires increasing the share of renewable energy sources in the energy generation mix. On the one hand, this approach enables the acquisition of clean energy, but, on the other hand, it can affect the stability of energy supply to consumers in terms of the time and quantity required. Therefore, in the presented research, the authors proposed and verified the following thesis: Innovative coal technologies can play a temporary but crucial role in building the stability of the energy system by developing an operational stability index for the energy system in Poland. To this end, they determined the energy system stability index (ESSI) level, verified its variability over time, and simulated changes in the index when clean coal technology was used. The proposed method is highly universal and can be applied to any country, and the program written specifically for this research fully automates the ESSI calculation process. It is an excellent tool for facilitating decision making and enables the creation of simulations and scenarios of the impact of potential energy development strategies on its operational stability. The set of indicators developed by the authors characterizes the operational stability of the energy system according to the four-dimensional energy security paradigm. This allows for the consideration of the entire spectrum of operational and structural indicators when analysing the stability of the energy system. The developed ESSI allows for the assessment of the system’s stability in a technical sense, but also its adaptability, power and energy balancing, and, ultimately, its independence. Full article

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare the degree of servitization of the economies of European Union countries and to assess the importance of servitization for sustainable development. This study used Eurostat data from the years 2000 and 2023. Using Hellwig’s synthetic measure of development, four groups of countries differing in the degree of servitization in each of the years studied were created and then compared in the context of the differences between them, including population density, the share of the service sector in employment and gross value-added creation, and the level of gross value added created by the service sector per capita. The results showed that a high degree of servitization characterizes mainly the rich countries of the EU-15, while a lower one applies mainly to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The service sector increased its share in employment, structure, and gross value-added creation during the period under review. High population density was also a factor conducive to the development of services, but its increase did not always coexist with an increase in the degree of servitization of the economy. Servitization drives development and facilitates optimal use of resources. However, high levels of servitization are not always reflected in good values of sustainable development. Servitization processes can be stimulated by adequate economic development policies, but the methods and actions taken in this regard should be adapted to the level of economic development and the specifics of each country. Full article

The changing demographics of the global population represent a significant challenge for humanity. Such changes have an impact on the functioning of the economy, including the housing market, and necessitate constant monitoring. This study evaluated the spatial diversity of all the large and medium-sized cities in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, situated in the north-west of Poland, in terms of three key factors: demographic potential, housing stock and their price levels. Furthermore, the interactions between the cities’ positions in the rankings, which were created on the basis of the aforementioned phenomena, were identified. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the linear object ordering method, the Hellwig pattern method and Kendall’s tau rank correlation coefficient were employed. The research was conducted using data from the years 2018 to 2022, sourced from the databases of the Polish Statistical Office and the Analysis and Monitoring System of the Real Estate Market. The study observed a relatively strong positive correlation between the positions of cities in the ranking created for demographic potential and the level of residential property prices for the year 2020. The correlation between the positions of cities in the rankings for demographic potential and housing real estate stock was found to be very weak. The case of Koszalin was identified as an optimal location for residence due to the existing residential property stock and its prices. This was corroborated by the city’s residents, who also enabled the city to be ranked at the top of a ranking created for this phenomenon through the diagnostic variables for demographic potential. This article addresses a research gap, as, to the best of our knowledge, the indicated relationships have not yet been analysed in the contexts presented in the article. Full article

This paper presents an original and comprehensive investigation into the Taxonomic Measure of Development (TMD), introduced by Hellwig in 1968, enriching both its theoretical foundations and practical applications. It provides an overview of various variants of the Hellwig method, including their extensions and applications, while also exploring recent trends across multiple research domains. Primarily developed as a method for multidimensional analysis, TMD has evolved into a pivotal tool in multi-criteria decision-making. It is widely used for evaluating and ranking alternatives, particularly in the analysis of complex socio-economic phenomena and decision-making scenarios involving multiple criteria. This study systematically reviews the original algorithm and its subsequent extensions and modifications, including adaptations for fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy sets, and interval-valued fuzzy sets. Furthermore, it explores an integrated multi-criteria approach based on Hellwig’s method and its practical applications across various domains. This paper introduces an original approach by conducting a detailed, step-by-step analysis of the TMD framework. This process-oriented analysis is a novel contribution that sets this study apart from typical reviews based on statistical or bibliometric data. By examining key steps in the TMD framework—such as data collection, criterion weighting, data normalization, ideal value determination, distance calculation, and normalization factor—this paper highlights the method’s versatility in addressing complex, real-world decision-making problems. Although similar to the widely used Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method in its reliance on distance to evaluate alternatives, Hellwig’s approach is unique in focusing exclusively on proximity to an ideal solution, without considering distance from a negative ideal. This distinctive emphasis has led to numerous adaptations and extensions that address specific issues such as criterion dependencies, uncertainty, and rank reversal. The findings underscore the continued relevance of the Hellwig method, its recent extensions, and its growing international recognition. Full article

Multi-criteria decision-making methods based on reference points and distances from them are essential for evaluating alternatives across multiple criteria. These methods provide structured approaches to comparing and ranking alternatives relative to specified reference points. The main objective of this paper is to present the Multi-Criteria Method Integrating Distances to Ideal and Anti-ideal Points (MIDIA), which, through a weighted system, allows for the consideration of balance and asymmetry in assessing alternatives based on their distances from the ideal and anti-ideal points. As a multi-criteria algorithm, MIDIA is user-friendly and reflects the human mind’s natural tendency to assess objects based on fundamental concepts—comparison with the ideal solution and the anti-ideal solution—that are familiar from everyday experiences and provide valuable insights from a behavioral perspective. Moreover, the proposed method can be seen as an extension of Hellwig’s approach, designed to facilitate the ranking of alternatives based on two reference points: the ideal point and the anti-ideal point, measuring the distance between the alternative and the ideal point and the distance between the ideal and anti-ideal points. The MIDIA method integrates elements from both TOPSIS and VIKOR, by incorporating the structure of TOPSIS and the compromise perspective of VIKOR, offering a balanced approach to multi-criteria decision-making by focusing on the distances from ideal and anti-ideal points. Illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the usability of the proposed tool in situations where the decision-maker has asymmetrical preferences concerning the importance of ideal and anti-ideal points in ranking alternatives. Moreover, the MIDIA method is applied to one of the Sustainable Development Goals, in the area of education (SDG4), to obtain the rankings of EU member countries in 2022. The results obtained using the MIDIA method were compared with those obtained using the TOPSIS and VIKOR approaches. The study concludes that the ranking of alternatives depends on the coefficients of the importance of the distances to reference points and the data setup. Full article

Determining criteria weights plays a crucial role in multi-criteria decision analyses. Entropy is a significant measure in information science, and several multi-criteria decision-making methods utilize the entropy weight method (EWM). In the literature, two approaches for determining the entropy weight method can be found. One involves normalization before calculating the entropy values, while the second does not. This paper investigates the normalization effect for entropy-based weights and Hellwig’s method. To compare the influence of various normalization methods in both the EWM and Hellwig’s method, a study evaluating the sustainable development of EU countries in the education area in the year 2021 was analyzed. The study used data from Eurostat related to European countries’ realization of the SDG 4 goal. It is observed that vector normalization and sum normalization did not change the entropy-based weights. In the case study, the max–min normalization influenced EWM weights. At the same time, these weights had only a very weak impact on the final rankings of countries with respect to achieving the SDG 4 goal, as determined by Hellwig’s method. The results are compared with the outcome obtained by Hellwig’s method with equal weights. The simulation study was conducted by modifying Eurostat data to investigate how the different normalization relationships discovered among the criteria affect entropy-based weights and Hellwig’s method results. Full article

One of the crucial steps in the multi-criteria decision analysis involves establishing the importance of criteria and determining the relationship between them. This paper proposes an extended Hellwig’s method (H_EM) that utilizes entropy-based weights and Mahalanobis distance to address this issue. By incorporating the concept of entropy, weights are determined based on their information content represented by the matrix data. The Mahalanobis distance is employed to address interdependencies among criteria, contributing to the improved performance of the proposed framework. To illustrate the relevance and effectiveness of the extended H_EM method, this study utilizes it to assess the progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda within the European Union countries for education in the year 2021. Performance comparison is conducted between results obtained by the extended Hellwig’s method and its other variants. The results reveal a significant impact on the ranking of the EU countries in the education area, depending on the choice of distance measure (Euclidean or Mahalanobis) and the system of weights (equal or entropy-based). Overall, this study highlights the potential of the proposed method in addressing complex decision-making scenarios with interdependent criteria. Full article

This article presents the results of a study analyzing the relationships between social capital levels and the green economy in Polish regions. By linking these concepts and examining the relationships between them, the study can offer valuable insights for promoting the development of social capital and the green economy. Social capital drives individual growth, and sustainable development plays a key role in this process by improving the quality of life and well-being at a level that is permitted by the current level of civilization. Therefore, social capital is a key prerequisite for sustainable development because it regulates the environmental impact of economic growth and lays the foundation for future development. Trust, openness, and the willingness to cooperate contribute to high levels of social capital, and they are essential for pursuing the common good and preventing the misuse of shared resources. The green economy concept paves the way to sustainable development by improving well-being, reducing environmental risks, and preventing resource depletion. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the relationships between social capital levels (measured based on the main criterion and indirect criteria, including public moral norms, engagement and social bonds, and social trust) and selected green economy indicators on the example of Polish voivodeships. The study involved Polish voivodeships, and data for analyses were obtained from statistical databases in the public domain. The analyzed phenomena are complex and multi-faceted, and they were measured with the use of composite variables. Composite indicators were determined with Hellwig’s method. The study revealed low levels of the examined phenomena and considerable differences between Polish regions. Social capital (main criterion) and engagement and social bonds (indirect criterion) were significantly correlated with the composite measure of a green economy. These results indicate that high levels of social capital can contribute to the growth of integrated, stable, and rapidly evolving communities that are able to effectively cope with the challenges of the green economy transition. Full article

Hellwig’s method is a multi-criteria decision-making technique designed to facilitate the ranking of alternatives based on their proximity to the ideal solution. Typically, this approach calculates distances using the Euclidean norm, assuming implicitly that the considered criteria are independent. However, in real-world situations, the assumption of criteria independence is rarely met. The paper aims to propose an extension of Hellwig’s method by incorporating the Mahalanobis distance. Substituting the Euclidean distance with the Mahalanobis distance has proven to be effective in handling correlations among criteria, especially in the context of asymmetrical relationships between criteria. Subsequently, we investigate the impact of the Euclidean and Mahalanobis distance measures on the several variants of Hellwig procedures, analyzing examples based on various illustrative data with 10 alternatives and 4 criteria. Additionally, we examine the influence of three normalization formulas in Hellwig’s aggregation procedures. The investigation results indicate that both the distance measure and normalization formulas have some impact on the final rankings. The evaluation and ranking of alternatives using the Euclidean distance measure are influenced by the normalization formula, albeit to a limited extent. In contrast, the Mahalanobis distance-based Hellwig’s method remains unaffected by the choice of normalization formulas. The study concludes that the ranking of alternatives is strongly dependent on the distance measure employed, whether it is Euclidean or Mahalanobis. The Mahalanobis distance-based Hellwig method is deemed a valuable tool for decision-makers in real-life situations. It enables the evaluation of alternatives by considering interactions between criteria, providing a more comprehensive perspective for decision-making. Full article

Three interconnected and mutually supporting priority areas of “Europe 2020”, which will continue as priorities until 2030, constitute the idea of sustainable development based on three pillars—economic, environmental and social. The third pillar, related to social inclusion, aims to protect the interests of various social groups, including the growing group of elderly individuals. In this context, the activity of seniors becomes one of the key elements of sustainable development. For many years, it has been advocated that seniors have to be active, not only in terms of their physical activity, but also in terms of the so-called digital/technological inclusion or exclusion. This article attempts to answer the question of whether seniors’ activity in various areas of life (for example, taking into account the components of the Active Aging Index) can translate into a better assessment of their lives. We compare the activity of Polish seniors with their peers from EU countries. By identifying the differences, we try to pinpoint the causes of inactivity and indicate the areas of action necessary to stimulate their activity. Pointing out the disadvantages of the AAI’s construction, which are related to the cultural schemes, traditions, and social conditions of EU countries, we propose an original active aging indicator, which was created using Hellwig’s method and which is based on the results of a pilot study conducted with Polish seniors in 2020. The values of both indicators (AAI and the original) were also used to examine the impact of seniors’ activity on their general life satisfaction. In this part of the study, we used a comparative analysis and a classification method. Full article

In this article, the risk of agricultural farmland abandonment was assessed with the use of a synthetic measure of socioeconomic problems as challenges to the quality of life in rural areas in the European Union. To determine the direction and dynamics of changes in farmland abandonment in the EU countries, variables based on EUROSTAT and FADN data were analyzed using Hellwig’s method, and data for 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019 were compared. The EUROSTAT methodology for the agri-environmental indicator “risk of land abandonment” was adapted for the needs of this study. Agricultural land is abandoned for many reasons, including conversion to other uses, but also abandonment of farming. The results of the analysis indicate that the risk of farmland abandonment was highest in countries with difficult farming conditions, such as Greece, Spain, Portugal, Romania, and Finland. In turn, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, i.e., the most economically developed countries, were most resilient to this risk. An analysis of the factors that contribute to farmland abandonment demonstrated that the likelihood of this risk decreases with a rise in agricultural investments, farm income, population density, prices of agricultural land, road quality, and density. A high proportion of ageing farm owners was the only factor that increased the risk of agricultural land abandonment. Full article

The health care system is a key element in the functioning of any country. However, depending on the level of funding, the number of medical staff and their availability, there are significant discrepancies in the health care systems of different countries. This article presents a picture of the Polish health care system compared to the systems of other selected OECD countries. The comparison was made on the basis of selected indicators concerning financing, medical and nursing staff as well as patient satisfaction with the availability and quality of healthcare. The aim of this article is to analyze the Polish health care system and compare it with other selected OECD countries’ health care systems. A literature review, secondary data analysis and statistical analyses were used as the research method. The ranking was prepared using Hellwig’s linear ordering method. Ten indicators related to financing, medical and nursing staff, and residents’ opinions on the availability and quality of medical services were selected for the analysis. The presented results clearly indicated that Norway, Germany and Switzerland have the best health care systems. The Polish system takes one of the last places in developed classification. The conducted analysis indicates the need to introduce changes to the health care system and the need to implement solutions from countries where health care systems have been indicated as the best. Full article

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the relationship between digitalisation of public services (e-government) and ESG factors (environmental, social and economic factors). As public administration is a major stakeholder influencing sustainable development and state governments are aiming to digitise their services, there is a need to better understand the effect of the digital revolution on ESG. This article aims to study the relationship between the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) and ESG factors in 26 European countries. The linear ordering method TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) was used for the study, followed by the Perkal index and the method of optimal predictors’ selection—the Hellwig method. The study is based on the Eurostat data (in the period 2003–2020), and the analysis includes ten variables: Share of environmental taxes in GDP; Exposure to dust air pollution; Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector—carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, etc. (energy, industry, agriculture, forestry, waste management) (thousands of tonnes); Passenger transport volume in relation to GDP; At risk of poverty or social exclusion; Percentage of people satisfied with their financial situation among people aged 16+; Share of the ICT sector in GDP; Unemployment rate of people aged 20–64; Research and development expenditure in all sectors; GDP per capita. The in-depth analysis offers a matrix that represents the relationships between environmental taxes and the development of e-government. The main finding reveals statistically significant relationships between the EGDI and aggregate variables representing the environmental, social and economic spheres. It indicates a genuine, positive impact of digitalised administrative processes on sustainable development. It also seems to confirm that investments in digital infrastructure and government e-services bring multiple long-term benefits and contribute directly to all three domains relevant to the sustainability of modern development. The results of the analysis can be found useful by governments and governmental institutions as informing digitalisation strategies aimed at balancing the development of e-services and their support infrastructure. Nowadays, when planning strategic actions, one should take into account the social, economic and environmental impact of the digitalisation processes. Full article