Comparative Multidimensional Assessment of Progress Towards Sustainability at the Macro Scale: The Cases of 12 OECD Countries, China, and Brazil

An assessment of sustainability at the macro level is carried out for 12 leading OECD economies, plus China and Brazil, over the period of 1960–2015 in a comparative dynamic fashion under varying policy priorities: economic, social, environmental, and equal importance. Overall, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway are found to be outperforming most other countries based on the basket of 16 different sustainability indicators consistently over time. While there are underlying causes of such performance expressed in policies of innovation, decarbonisation, and social cohesion, addressing economic, environmental, and social dimensions, there are some soft factors traditionally lying outside economic or policy domains. Such factors represent the power of institutions, the level of psychological well-being, and societal values, which tend to be statistically different in Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway, as opposed to other countries in the sample. The reasons for the changes in sustainability performance among countries under different policy priorities are discussed at length, with special attention paid to an economically, environmentally, and socially weighted sustainability index of progress.