Sustainable development is a key task for governments that should end poverty, ensure prosperity, create better conditions for health, education or social needs. The set of indicators to be monitored for evaluation of successes or failures of the sustainable development varies by intergovernmental organizations like OECD or EU. To discover the status and dynamics of variables which are part of the sustainable development goals of the OECD countries is the main aim of the presented analysis. To measure the convergence of socio-economic indicators the coefficient of variation was used. The Pearson’s correlations coefficient and regression analysis were applied to detect the linear relationship between a pair of variables. The OECD countries were compared not only by using univariate statistical methods but also by applying a multivariate approach. The cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used for a set of indicators to monitor the countries from a wider perspective. The analyzed indicators GDP per capita or real change in GDP per capita belong to variables of economic activity. Variables of life expectancy at birth, standardized death rates for noncommunicable diseases belong to indicators of health. Altogether fifteen selected indicators were used for a multivariate analysis of OECD countries in two periods of time.

Premature mortality, and especially premature mortality for chronic diseases, is a very important topic of public health, health care, or lifestyle of population. The main aim of countries is to reduce premature mortality, and therefore an analysis of the development and status of premature standardized death rates (SDR) is key for disclosure of successes or failures in this topic. A boxplot chart was used to detect extremes of SDR for both sexes. The gender ratio revealed the differences of mortality rates between men and women. Premature mortality declined steadily in the EU between 2000 and 2016. The men’s premature SDR decreased from 390 to 275.9 between 2000 and 2016, while the women’s rate declined from 180.1 to 138.2. On average, annual premature SDR dropped by 2.14% for men and 1.64% for women. Thus, the gender ratio (male/female) declined from 2.17 in 2000 to 2.0 in 2016, which is a positive change for gender gap closing. The highest proportion of premature mortality belonged to mortality for malignant neoplasms, where the rate was as high as 47% for women and 32% for men in 2016. Premature mortality for chronic disease is especially high in the “new” EU member states.

The Member States of the European Union are undergoing major demographic changes; these changes are slow but significant. The demographic picture in the EU-27 is clearer: population growth is mainly the result of immigration, fertility is far below the replacement ratio, and the population is growing older, which will be a key demographic challenge in many Member States. All the actual demographic trends will have consequences for health care systems.

Green growth is about merging environmental and social protection with economic growth. The OECD countries follow the progress toward greening though a set of indicators. The aim of the study is to analyze the condition and development of the OECD countries using a set of green growth indicators. The univariate and multivariate statistical approach was used to identify the main features of green growth development in two time spans. The achieved success of the OECD countries toward the green growth was measured from period 1 (years 2000–2009) to period 2 (years 2010–2019). For stimulant indicators, an increase was achieved, while for the destimulant variables, a decrease was reached between the analyzed periods. CO2 productivity increased by more than 31%, material productivity by 25%, and the energy productivity by nearly 21%. From the ecological point of view, a positive sign was achieved by an intensive increase of the percentage of municipal waste treatment by recycling or composting. The real GDP increased between periods in each of the OECD countries, except in Greece. The destimulant indicators decreased over time. The mortality declined by about 20% from exposure to ambient PM2.5 and thus the welfare costs of premature death from exposure to PM2.5 also declined. The decline of the mean population exposure to PM2.5 by 12.5% on average for the OECD countries is a positive signal for environmental protection and public health of the OECD population. Some uncertainty exists as the municipal waste generated per capita decreased only slightly by 2%.

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Abstract. The EU Member States have different levels of development. The state of development can be rated in various ways, using some economic or human development indictors. Enhancement of economic well-being of the EU countries belongs to the main goals of the 28 EU Member States. The improvement of well-being expects the convergence of socio-economic indicators. Labour productivity (LP) belongs to indicators of economic competitiveness reflecting the standard of living. Almost in all of the initial EU countries LP is higher than LP in the «new» EU members. In 2000 LP in purchasing power standard (PPS) was as low as 9,314 in Romania, but due to a strong increase by 256% LP reached PPS 33,188 in 2015. The lowest increase in LP in the same time span was achieved in Italy, where LP increased by only 19.4% from PPS 51,287 to PPS 61,244. Between the Visegrad Four countries Slovakia´s LP grew by a highest rate of 107.8% and so the proportion of LP in Slovakia compared to EU-28 average (EU-28=100) increased from 53.7% in 2000 to 83.6% in 2015. Not only in Slovakia, but a strong jump of LP in PPS was achieved also in Poland (by 95.3%), in Hungary (by 72.5%), and in Czech Republic (by 67.6%). The convergence process of LP was typical for the period till the beginning of the economic crisis. From 2000 until 2008 the convergence of LP between the EU members was achieved in Beta-and Sigma-convergence. The coefficient of variation of LP decreased from 36.4% in 2000 to 27.4% in 2008. The economic crisis activated the divergence of LP. In 2015 the coefficient of variation increased to 31.7%. We expect that the convergence process of LP will successfully continue in periods of recovery and expansion of the EU economies. Keywords: Productivity; Labour Productivity; Production; GDP; Gross Value Added; Variability; Employment; Slovakia; Visegrad Four JEL Classification: E23; E24; J21 Acknowledgment. Чарніцкі Ш. кандидат економічних наук, професор, Університет економіки у Братиславі Мегесьова С. кандидат економічних наук, доцент, Університет економіки у Братиславі Чонкова М. кандидат економічних наук, асистент, Університет економіки у Братиславі Завадскі Ц. кандидат економічних наук, асистент, Університет економіки у Братиславі Розвиток продуктивності та конвергенція в країнах-членах ЄС Анотація. Члени Європейського Союзу мають різний рівень розвитку. Сам рівень розвитку може бути визначено у різний спосіб, використовуючи індикатори економічного чи суспільного розвитку. Підвищення економічного добробуту є одним із ключових завдань 28 країн-членів Європейського Союзу. Для виконання цього завдання країни ЄС забезпечують конвергенцію соціально-економічних індикаторів. Продуктивність праці (ПП) є індикатором економічної конкурентоспроможності, що відображає один із аспектів добробуту суспільства. Майже всі старі країни-члени ЄС демонструють більш високий рівень ПП порівняно з новими членами Євросоюзу. Проте нові країни-члени демонстрували непогані темпи конвергенції продуктивності праці. Хоча економічна криза 2008 року уповільнила з...

BackgroundAltogether, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an urgent call for action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. Goal 3 is crucial in terms of good health and wellbeing. The main aim of this study is to analyze and evaluate differences among indicators of SDG 3: Sustainable health and wellbeing in the EU countries.MethodsThe status and development of the EU Member States regarding their successes or failures in terms of Goal 3 were subjected to analysis. Altogether, 11 indicators were used to rank the EU countries using the TOPSIS and ranking methods. The ranks were assigned to the countries in two periods. The first period is related to the time from 2010 till 2014, and the second period from 2015 till 2019.ResultsThe EU countries achieved a positive development in 10 of 11 indicators that monitor the achievement of the EU in terms of Goal 3. The only variable that changed negatively was the obesity rate. Positivity was observed in the decline of the standardized preventable and treatable mortality, which declined from 317.3 in the first period to 295 in the second period; the drop of the population weighted annual mean concentration of fine particulate PM2.5, from 16.4 to 13.6 μg/m3, and also in the increase of the share of people with good or very good perceived health, which was combined with a decrease of the self-reported unmet need for medical examination and care. The best-rated country in terms of SDG 3 was, in both periods, Sweden, while the worst-rated was Latvia.ConclusionsGovernments and institutions in the EU can intervene to increase the accessibility and quality of the health care system, but every citizen should try to do their best to reduce some of the risk factors, such as smoking or obesity, to try living healthier and to help to achieve higher ambitions in terms of sustainable health and wellbeing.

The Member States of the European Union are undergoing major demographic changes; these changes are slow but significant. The demographic picture in the EU-27 is clearer: population growth is mainly the result of immigration, fertility is far below the replacement ratio, and the population is growing older, which will be a key demographic challenge in many Member States. All the actual demographic trends will have consequences for health care systems.