Impact of economic development on the ecology in the regions of Lithuania

All three components of sustainable development (SD) – economic, social and ecological – are closely interrelated and have both direct and reverse impacts. To better understand the SD phenomenon and to manage it purposefully, we need to perform two essential tasks: first, a quantitative analysis of the status of the components; and second, a quantitative assessment of their impact on one another. Both economic development and ecological development are complex processes that manifest themselves in many aspects; thus, the quantitative assessment of the condition of these processes is based on multi-criteria methods. The article analyses the impact of economic development of the regions of the state on the ecological development as an essential component thereof. The latter statement represents the purpose of the study. The set of economic development indices is formed based on the possibility to obtain the required statistical information. Only those indices that reflect irreversible resources: water, air and land resources – are included in the system of economic development indices. Following the assessment of the condition of economic development and of the ecological development, the interrelation between the economic development and the ecological development shall be analysed based on correlation and regression analysis. It has been determined that economic development in the regions of Lithuania has a negative impact on the ecological development in those regions (r = 0.82). The components of economic development reflect only 57% of its impact on the ecology; whereas construction (r = 0.71) and industry (r = 0.47) have the biggest negative impact