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Sustainability ranking and improvement of countries

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  • Phillis, Yannis A.
  • Grigoroudis, Evangelos
  • Kouikoglou, Vassilis S.

Abstract

Human society is on a collision course with nature, thus its sustainability is seriously questioned nowadays. To understand this problem better it is essential to define and measure sustainability. In this paper a model that uses fuzzy logic, called SAFE, is used to measure sustainability. The sustainability of a country is based on a multitude of basic indicators. In all 75 indicators for 128 countries are used. This work extends SAFE as follows: (a) The model is amended by an imputation procedure to fill in missing data, (b) the rule bases of SAFE are compiled algebraically, and (c) sustainability thresholds are defined so as to reflect expert opinion and international agreements and norms. Countries are ranked according to their sustainability index. Switzerland and Sweden take the first two places and Mauritania and Sudan the two last ones. A sensitivity analysis pinpoints those basic indicators that affect sustainability the most. Decision makers may focus on these indicators to improve sustainability.

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  • Phillis, Yannis A. & Grigoroudis, Evangelos & Kouikoglou, Vassilis S., 2011. "Sustainability ranking and improvement of countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 542-553, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2011:i:3:p:542-553
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    1. Giuseppe Munda, 2016. "Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis and Sustainable Development," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Salvatore Greco & Matthias Ehrgott & José Rui Figueira (ed.), Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis, edition 2, chapter 0, pages 1235-1267, Springer.
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    6. Phillis, Yannis A. & Andriantiatsaholiniaina, Luc A., 2001. "Sustainability: an ill-defined concept and its assessment using fuzzy logic," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 435-456, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mehrbakhsh Nilashi & Fausto Cavallaro & Abbas Mardani & Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas & Sarminah Samad & Othman Ibrahim, 2018. "Measuring Country Sustainability Performance Using Ensembles of Neuro-Fuzzy Technique," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Bert Scholtens & Riikka Sievänen, 2013. "Drivers of Socially Responsible Investing: A Case Study of Four Nordic Countries," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 605-616, July.
    3. Elena Escrig‐Olmedo & María Jesús Muñoz‐Torres & María Ángeles Fernández‐Izquierdo & Juana María Rivera‐Lirio, 2017. "Measuring Corporate Environmental Performance: A Methodology for Sustainable Development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 142-162, February.
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    5. Rebecca Patrick & Amy Shaw & Alison Freeman & Claire Henderson-Wilson & Justin Lawson & Mia Davison & Teresa Capetola & Calvin K. F. Lee, 2019. "Human Wellbeing and the Health of the Environment: Local Indicators that Balance the Scales," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 651-667, December.
    6. Buchanan, Bonnie & Silvola, Hanna & Vähämaa, Emilia, 2023. "Sustainability and private investors," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 14/2023, Bank of Finland.
    7. Jelena M. Andrić & Jiayuan Wang & Ruoyu Zhong, 2019. "Identifying the Critical Risks in Railway Projects Based on Fuzzy and Sensitivity Analysis: A Case Study of Belt and Road Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, March.
    8. José Fernando Romero Cañizares & Purificación Vicente Galindo & Yannis Phillis & Evangelos Grigoroudis, 2022. "Graphical sustainability analysis using disjoint biplots," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 1575-1596, April.
    9. Liudan Jiao & Liyin Shen & Chenyang Shuai & Bei He, 2016. "A Novel Approach for Assessing the Performance of Sustainable Urbanization Based on Structural Equation Modeling: A China Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, September.
    10. Mehrbakhsh Nilashi & Shahla Asadi & Rabab Ali Abumalloh & Sarminah Samad & Fahad Ghabban & Eko Supriyanto & Reem Osman, 2021. "Sustainability Performance Assessment Using Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) and Classification and Ensembles of Regression Trees (CART)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-24, March.
    11. Hametner, Markus & Kostetckaia, Mariia, 2020. "Frontrunners and laggards: How fast are the EU member states progressing towards the sustainable development goals?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    12. Fausto Cavallaro, 2015. "A Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Inference System for Developing a Sustainability Index of Biomass," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-13, September.
    13. Diego Seuret-Jimenez & Tiare Robles-Bonilla & Karla G. Cedano, 2020. "Measurement of Energy Access Using Fuzzy Logic," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-13, June.
    14. Evangelos Grigoroudis & Vassilis S. Kouikoglou & Yannis A. Phillis & Fotis D. Kanellos, 2021. "Energy sustainability: a definition and assessment model," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1845-1885, September.
    15. Cheng He & Liguo Zhou & Weichun Ma & Yuan Wang, 2019. "Spatial Assessment of Urban Climate Change Vulnerability during Different Urbanization Phases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-19, April.
    16. Phillis, Yannis A. & Kouikoglou, Vassilis S., 2012. "System-of-Systems hierarchy of biodiversity conservation problems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 235, pages 36-48.
    17. Sdoukopoulos, Alexandros & Papadopoulos, Efthymis & Verani, Eleni & Politis, Ioannis, 2024. "Putting theory into practice: A novel methodological framework for assessing cities' compliance with the 15-min city concept," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    18. Ionut Viorel Herghiligiu & Ioan-Bogdan Robu & Marius Pislaru & Adrian Vilcu & Anca Laura Asandului & Silvia Avasilcăi & Catalin Balan, 2019. "Sustainable Environmental Management System Integration and Business Performance: A Balance Assessment Approach Using Fuzzy Logic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-30, September.
    19. Yannis A. Phillis & Nektarios Chairetis & Evangelos Grigoroudis & Fotis D. Kanellos & Vassilis S. Kouikoglou, 2018. "Climate security assessment of countries," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 25-43, May.
    20. Aiyshwariya Paulvannan Kanmani & Renee Obringer & Benjamin Rachunok & Roshanak Nateghi, 2020. "Assessing Global Environmental Sustainability Via an Unsupervised Clustering Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-12, January.
    21. Eleftherios Sdoukopoulos & Maria Boile, 2021. "Strengthening the Collaborative Environment in Port-Hinterland Corridor Management Initiatives: A Value System Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    22. Francesca Fortuna & Alessia Naccarato & Silvia Terzi, 2024. "Evaluating countries’ performances by means of rank trajectories: functional measures of magnitude and evolution," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 141-157, February.
    23. Liu, Gang, 2014. "Development of a general sustainability indicator for renewable energy systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 611-621.
    24. Weiwei Li & Danning Zhang & Wenfeng Hui, 2025. "Predictive sustainability assessment based on provincial 5-year development plans in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 1597-1617, January.

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