Regional differences in Slovenia from the viewpoint of achieving Europe’s sustainable development

Katja Vintar Mally

doi:10.3986/AGS.3309

Authors

Katja Vintar Mally Department of Geography Faculty of Arts University of Ljubljana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS.3309

Keywords:

sustainable development indicator, sustainable regional development, environmental protection, socioeconomic progress, statistical regions, Slovenia

Abstract

Within the context of EU efforts to achieve the objectives of sustainable development, this article presents the findings of a study that uses a selection of thirty-two economic, social, and environmental indicators to evaluate the extent of achieving these objectives in Slovenian statistical regions from 2010 to 2014. Based on the favorable or unfavorable state and trends established, the indicator values are assigned scores that make it possible to calculate the average values for individual development areas and their total average (i.e., the indicator of sustainable regional development). The calculations confirmed the hypothesis that the differences between Slovenian regions are the greatest with regard to economic issues and the smallest with regard to environmental issues. Both in Slovenia and in the EU in general, unfavorable environmental trends resulting from unsustainable use of energy and natural resources persist, even though Slovenia’s environment remains above average in terms of its conservation.

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