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Statistical Evaluation of the Level of Development of Circular Economy in European Union Member Countries

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  • Barbara Fura

    (Economics and Finance Institute, University of Rzeszów, 35-601 Rzeszów, Poland)

  • Małgorzata Stec

    (Economics and Finance Institute, University of Rzeszów, 35-601 Rzeszów, Poland)

  • Teresa Miś

    (Economics and Finance Institute, University of Rzeszów, 35-601 Rzeszów, Poland)

Abstract

In this paper, we have analysed the level of advancement in circular economy (CE) in the EU-28 countries. First, we used a synthetic measure to examine CE advancement in EU countries in each of the Eurostat CE distinguished areas, i.e., production and consumption, waste management, secondary raw materials, and competitiveness and innovation. For the empirical analysis, we applied 17 Eurostat indicators to the CE areas. To find the synthetic measure in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016, we used multidimensional comparative analysis, i.e., a zero unitarisation method. Second, based on the synthetic measures of the CE areas, we created a general synthetic measure of the CE advancement of the EU-28 countries as well as the countries’ rankings. Third, we classified the countries into groups according to their level of advancement in CE, i.e., high level, medium–high level, medium–low level and low level groups. Finally, we applied a similarity measure to evaluate the correlation between obtained rankings in two most extreme moments in the period of analysis (2010, 2016). Our analysis covers all EU member states, as well as “old” and “new” EU countries separately. Our results confirm that highly developed Benelux countries, i.e., Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium, have the highest CE advancement level. Malta, Cyprus, Estonia and Greece are the least advanced in CE practice. Apart from that, on average, there is some progress in CE implementation, significant disproportions between the EU countries were observed, especially among the “new” member states.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbara Fura & Małgorzata Stec & Teresa Miś, 2020. "Statistical Evaluation of the Level of Development of Circular Economy in European Union Member Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-23, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:23:p:6401-:d:455768
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Konstantin Gomonov & Svetlana Ratner & Inna Lazanyuk & Svetlana Revinova, 2021. "Clustering of EU Countries by the Level of Circular Economy: An Object-Oriented Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-20, June.
    2. Joanicjusz Nazarko & Ewa Chodakowska & Łukasz Nazarko, 2022. "Evaluating the Transition of the European Union Member States towards a Circular Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-24, May.
    3. Armand Kasztelan, 2021. "On the Road to a Green Economy: How Do European Union Countries ‘Do Their Homework’?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Elżbieta Antczak, 2021. "Analyzing Spatiotemporal Development of Organic Farming in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Monika Stelmaszczyk & Agata Pierścieniak & Anna Krzysztofek, 2021. "Managerial Energy in Sustainable Enterprises: Organizational Wisdom Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Roman Lacko & Zuzana Hajduová & Marcin Zawada, 2021. "The Efficiency of Circular Economies: A Comparison of Visegrád Group Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-13, March.
    7. Anna Nowak & Armand Kasztelan, 2022. "Economic competitiveness vs. green competitiveness of agriculture in the European Union countries," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 13(2), pages 379-405, June.

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