# Evaluation of Sustainable Development in European Union Countries
## 1 Introduction  
In recent decades, one of the greatest problems facing humanity has been the sustainability of the planet, which is compromised by such things as the indiscriminate use of resources, polluting emissions, etc. It is thus necessary to develop tools that enable critical avenues for achieving better progress towards sustainable development to be identified, as well as the use of techniques for reducing or eliminating the impact of these activities. The definition of Sustainable Development (SD) has evolved over time. It was originally defined, in 1987, as \"to seek equity, public awareness and cohesion and participation, to meet the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future\" [1]. SD is defined by [PERSON] et al. [2] as a process, measurable by environmental, political and social indicators, which tends to improve people's quality of life and productivity, which is based on appropriate measures of preservation of ecological balance, environmental protection, and use of natural resources, so as not to compromise the meeting of the needs of future generations. Thus, SD should seek an equilibrium between preserving the ecosystem and meeting human needs in three basic areas: environmental, social and economic sustainability [3]. Sustainability assessment is used to assess the level of implementation of sustainability measures [4]. In this way, it is possible to determine the SD of a country by analyzing its sustainability indicators. These are commonly categorized as: economic, environmental, institutional and social [5]. These categories can also interact with each other, giving mixed sustainability indicators. The resultsof this assessment can be used for decision-making and formulating policies in real-world SD applications [6]. Despite the importance that assessment of SD in these three areas can have for a country, no contribution was found in the literature review set out below analyzing this question in EU countries through objective analytic techniques, such as, for example, Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM). These techniques are formulated to integrate multiple quantitative and qualitative indicators, and so they are ideal for integrating the various indicators required to obtain an overall assessment of SD, a process which may involve different stakeholders, decision groups, or scenarios. Furthermore, since they are easy to apply, and their objectivity can help in justifying the results obtained [7; 8], they are of interest in the specific application of SD to countries. The aim of this research is to identify the evolution over time of sustainability in EU countries (and Norway and Iceland). In order to build the model, a hierarchy of sustainability indicators was created from the database mentioned above, and different types of filters were used to determine the periods and countries to be studied. The multi-criteria Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique will be used to produce the model. As a result, the models provide a valuation for the countries year by year, and can evaluate their chronological development, identify levels of sustainability by regions, and patterns of behavior between nations. An analysis will also be carried out to integrate the sustainability record of the countries, using the weighted moving average and the weightings obtained for each year via an exponential smoothing. In addition, the sensitivity analysis will allow the strengths and weaknesses of these countries to be known, and guidelines can be produced so that, if they wish to increase their sustainability, they can identify the key factors necessary. The main contributions of this study are:  
1. Development of a multi-criteria model for evaluating the SD of EU countries using AHP.