Measurement of Sustainable Development and Standard of Living in Territorial Units: Methodological Concept and Application

The growing importance of sustainable development and improved living standards has created a need for comprehensive methods to assess these concepts in a consistent manner across different regions. Despite widespread discussion in the scientific and policy communities, there is no standardised model for their measurement. The aim of this study is to present a methodological approach for determining the development position of territorial units in terms of sustainable development and living standards of the population. A new approach is proposed, integrating the modified positional TOPSIS method and bilinear ordering, to assess the levels of sustainable development and living standards of territorial units and to determine their development positions along with possible development scenarios. This approach was applied to evaluate European countries in 2021, based on statistical data from Eurostat. The results showed different levels of sustainable development and living standards among the countries evaluated. This study makes a significant contribution to the literature by providing a comprehensive framework for assessing sustainable development and standard of living at the territorial level. The results provide valuable insights for policy makers in designing strategies and policies to promote sustainable development and improve standard of living. Furthermore, the methodology proposed in this study can be adapted and applied in different regional and contextual analyses, making it a versatile tool for future research in this area.