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Sustainable development in the EU Is the European Union moving towards sustainable development? A statistical assessment of progress


Sustainable development policy aims to achieve a continuous improvement in citizens’ quality of life and well-being. This involves the pursuit of economic progress, while safeguarding the natural environment and promoting social justice. The economic, environmental and social dimensions are all part of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) adopted in 2001 and renewed in 2006.

The EU SDS also includes an institutional and a global dimension, with the adoption of good governance practices in the EU as well as a global partnership for worldwide sustainable development.

Along these five dimensions, the EU SDS defines objectives and targets intended to place the EU on a path to sustainable development. The Eurostat monitoring report, published every two years, provides a quantitative assessment of whether the EU is moving in the right direction.

Today, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, publishes its sixth monitoring report of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy.

This monitoring report evaluates progress towards the EU SDS objectives using a set of more than 100 sustainable development indicators, grouped into ten thematic areas. The evaluation considers two periods: the long term, accounting for progress since the year 2000, and the short term, looking at the trends over the last five years.

Download the full report here.