Evaluation of selected indicators in the social dimension of sustainable development

The social dimension and those aspects of it related to human health are crucial for sustainable development (SD). By means of a Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), the European Union countries and another four developed European countries were assessed firstly according to their performance achieved in Life expectancy at birth and Death rate due to chronic diseases, and secondly according to these two indicators along with Current health care expenditure (HCE) (Percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)). The first cluster analysis was carried out for 32 countries (the EU countries plus Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and the second one for 30 countries (apart from Malta and Switzerland). Within each of them three partial analyses were conducted, i.e. for 2014, 2015 and both years together. In the analysis based on the first two indicators, four clusters were constructed and in the analysis based on all three indicators, five clusters were constructed. Switzerland and Lichtenstein, showing both low death rates and high life expectancies, can be regarded as the best performing countries. Cluster 2, consisting of Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary in both analyses is the worst performing cluster. These countries showed the lowest life expectancies and the highest death rates, while the HCE ratios of Romania and Latvia were lowest in the sample as well