SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EFFICIENCY OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

This paper assesses the efficiency of 44 European countries based on the values of indicators of the Sustainable Development Index (SDI). The objective of the research is to evaluate the success of European countries in implementing sustainable practices. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to analyze sustainable development efficiency of the observed countries. DEA is a non-parametric technique based on linear programming that measures the relative performance of organizational units, particularly in comparisons with multiple inputs and outputs. DEA offers benchmark units, which is crucial for improving the practices of inefficient units. The analysis includes target values for inputs/outputs, indicating the extent to which inefficient units need to adjust their inputs/outputs to achieve efficiency. For this analysis, six indicators are divided into two inputs and four outputs, and model used input orientation. A comparative analysis was also conducted between the real values of the SDI and the efficiency indices provided by DEA, including a comparison of the rankings of countries. The results indicate that countries with lower input values tend to rank better, regardless of their output levels. Furthermore, it is recommended to set constraints on the maximum predicted output values.