Abstract
In 2015, the United Nations introduced the 2030 Agenda, which sets out Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for building a sustainable future. The main objective of this study is to classify worldwide countries in terms of Sustainable Development Goals progress in order to understand key implementation challenges, define the gaps between countries and identify priorities for action. 110 countries were included in the analysis. The SDG progress data used in the data analysis phase were gathered from the Sustainable Development Report 2019. To classify countries, the K-Means method, which is a non-hierarchical cluster analysis technique, was used. After constructing homogeneous groups of countries, each cluster was examined based on the socioeconomic and politico-cultural structure of the countries. The results of the cluster analysis show that the countries can be classified into 5 clusters. The countries in each cluster have substantially similar characteristics, not only in terms of progress on the SDGs, but also in terms of socioeconomic and politico-cultural structure. In general, the clusters with a more advanced socioeconomic structure and a better politico-cultural structure tend to have superior SDGs progress. Socioeconomic and politico-cultural indicators are positively related to most of the SDGs indices. This study provides crucial guidance to identify each country's achievements, challenges, needs, strengths and weaknesses in terms of progress on the SDGs. In addition, the empirical results of the study also show the importance of the superior socioeconomic and politico-cultural structure in reaching SDGs.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and material
The data used in this study are freely available from the sources.
Code availability
Used R packages and codes are freely available.
References
Adamišin, P., Vavrek, R., & Pukala, R. (2015). Cluster analysis of Central and Southeast Europe via selected indicators of sustainable development. In Environmental Economics, Education and Accreditation in Geosciences: Ecology, Economics, Education and Legislation (Conference proceedings: 15th international multidisciplinary scientific geoconference (SGEM 2015)) (Vol. 3, pp. 135–140). Sofia: STEF92 Technology.
Adedoyin, F. F., Alola, A. A., & Bekun, F. V. (2020). An assessment of environmental sustainability corridor: The role of economic expansion and research and development in EU countries. Science of the Total Environment, 713, 136726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136726
Ali, S., Hussain, T., Zhang, G., Nurunnabi, M., & Li, B. (2018). The implementation of Sustainable Development Goals in “BRICS” countries. Sustainability, 10(7), 2513. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072513
Allen, C., Metternicht, G., & Wiedmann, T. (2018). Initial progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A review of evidence from countries. Sustainability Science, 13(5), 1453–1467. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0572-3
Allen, C., Nejdawi, R., El-Baba, J., Hamati, K., Metternicht, G., & Wiedmann, T. (2017). Indicator-based assessments of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A case study from the Arab region. Sustainability Science, 12(6), 975–989. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0437-1
Allievi, F., Luukkanen, J., Panula-Ontto, J., & Vehmas, J. (2011). Grouping and ranking the EU-27 countries by their sustainability performance measured by the Eurostat sustainability indicators. In Lakkala, H., & Vehmas, J., (Eds.), Proceedings of the conference “trends and future of sustainable development” (pp. 9–20). Tampere, Finland. Turku: Finland Futures Research Centre.
Alvino, F., Di Vaio, A., Hassan, R., & Palladino, R. (2020). Intellectual capital and sustainable development: A systematic literature review. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 22(1), 76–94. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-11-2019-0259
Aust, V., Morais, A. I., & Pinto, I. (2020). How does foreign direct investment contribute to Sustainable Development Goals? Evidence from African countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 245, 118823. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118823
Barro, R. J., & Sala-i-Martin, X. (2003). Economic growth (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA.
Bebbington, J., & Unerman, J. (2018). Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 31(1), 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-05-2017-2929
Becker, G. S. (2009). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education. University of Chicago press.
Bengtsson, S. E., Barakat, B., & Muttarak, R. (2018). The role of education in enabling the sustainable development agenda. Routledge.
Bholowalia, P., & Kumar, A. (2014). EBK-means: A clustering technique based on elbow method and k-means in WSN. International Journal of Computer Applications, 105(9), 17–24.
Biermann, F., Kanie, N., & Kim, R. E. (2017). Global governance by goal-setting: The novel approach of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26, 26–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.01.010
Brad, S., Mocan, B., Brad, E., & Fulea, M. (2016). Environmentally sustainable economic growth. Amfiteatru Economic Journal, 18(42), 446–460.
Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute (2020). Human freedom index: A global measurement of personal, civil, and economic freedom. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index/2020
Chancel, L., Hough, A., & Voituriez, T. (2018). Reducing inequalities within countries: Assessing the potential of the Sustainable Development Goals. Global Policy, 9(1), 5–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12511
Collste, D., Pedercini, M., & Cornell, S. E. (2017). Policy coherence to achieve the SDGs: Using integrated simulation models to assess effective policies. Sustainability Science, 12(6), 921–931. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0457-x
Coopman, A., Osborn, D., Ullah, F., Auckland, E., & Long, G. (2016). Seeing the whole: implementing the SDGs in an integrated and coherent way. A research pilot by Stakeholder Forum, Bioregional and Newcastle University. Retrieved February 27, 2021 from https://www.local2030.org/library/159/Seeing-the-Whole-Implementing-SDGs-in-an-Integrated-and-Coherent-Way.pdf
Coscieme, L., Mortensen, L. F., Anderson, S., Ward, J., Donohue, I., & Sutton, P. C. (2020). Going beyond Gross Domestic Product as an indicator to bring coherence to the Sustainable Development Goals. Journal of Cleaner Production, 248, 119232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119232
Costa, L., Rybski, D., & Kropp, J. P. (2011). A human development framework for CO2 reductions. PLoS ONE, 6(12), e29262. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029262
Dartey-Baah, K. (2014). Effective leadership and sustainable development in Africa: Is there “really” a link? Journal of Global Responsibility, 5(2), 203–218.
Di Vaio, A., Palladino, R., Hassan, R., & Alvino, F. (2020a). Human resources disclosure in the EU Directive 2014/95/EU perspective: A systematic literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 257, 120509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120509
Di Vaio, A., Palladino, R., Hassan, R., & Escobar, O. (2020b). Artificial intelligence and business models in the Sustainable Development Goals perspective: A systematic literature review. Journal of Business Research, 121, 283–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.08.019
Dinda, S. (2004). Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: A survey. Ecological Economics, 49(4), 431–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.02.011
Drastichová, M. (2020). Cluster analysis of sustainable development goal indicators in the European Union. In M. H. Bilgin, H. Danis, G. Karabulut, & G. Gözgor (Eds.), Eurasian economic perspectives, 12(1) (pp. 99–124). Springer.
Drastichová, M., & Filzmoser, P. (2019). Assessment of sustainable development using cluster analysis and principal component analysis. Problemy Ekorozwoju, 14(2), 7–24.
EEA (2016). Circular economy in Europe—developing the knowledge base. EEA Report No 2/2016; European Environment Agency: Copenhagen, Denmark. Retrieved April 10, 2020. https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/circular-economy-in-europe
Eisenmenger, N., Pichler, M., Krenmayr, N., Noll, D., Plank, B., Schalmann, E., Wandl, M.-T., & Gingrich, S. (2020). The Sustainable Development Goals prioritize economic growth over sustainable resource use: A critical reflection on the SDGs from a socio-ecological perspective. Sustainability Science, 15, 1101–1110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00813-x
European Commission (2010). Europe 2020: a strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Working paper {COM (2010) 2020}.Retrieved April 15, 2020, from http://www.ikg.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Europe2020.pdf
European Commission (2017). Sustainable development in the European Union—Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/4031688/8461538/KS-01-17-796-EN-N.pdf/f9c4e3f9-57eb-4f02-ab7a-42a7ebcf0748?t=1510912032000
European Commission (2018). Sustainable development in the European Union—Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context—2018 edition. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3217494/9237449/KS-01-18-656-EN-N.pdf/2b2a096b-3bd6-4939-8ef3-11cfc14b9329?t=1547214788000
European Commission (2019). Sustainable development in the European Union—Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context—2019 edition. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3217494/9940483/KS-02-19-165-EN-N.pdf/1965d8f5-4532-49f9-98ca-5334b0652820?t=1573202053000
European Commission (2020). Sustainable development in the European Union—Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context—2020 edition. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3217494/11011074/KS-02-20-202-EN-N.pdf/334a8cfe-636a-bb8a-294a-73a052882f7f?t=1592994779000
Gara, T. (2019). Sustainable development or environmental Kuznets curve model: Which route for Africa? Environment, Development and Sustainability, 21(3), 1341–1356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-018-0084-4
Giupponi, C., Gain, A. K., & Farinosi, F. (2018). Spatial assessment of water use efficiency (SDG indicator 6.4. 1) for regional policy support. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 6, 141. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2018.00141
Goodwin, N. R. (2003). Five kinds of capital: Useful concepts for sustainable development. Global Development and Environment Institute. Working Paper No. 03-07. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/15595/
Guppy, L. (2017). Accelerating water-related SDG success; 6 steps and 6 components for SDG 6. UNU-INWEH Policy Brief, Issue 4. United Nations University Institute for Water Environment and Health, Canada. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://inweh.unu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Policy-Brief_Issue04_ENG-1.pdf
Hanushek, E. A., & Woessmann, L. (2012). Do better schools lead to more growth? Cognitive skills, economic outcomes, and causation. Journal of Economic Growth, 17(4), 267–321. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-012-9081-x
Hiç, C., Pradhan, P., Rybski, D., & Kropp, J. P. (2016). Food surplus and its climate burdens. Environmental Science & Technology, 50(8), 4269–4277. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05088
Hickel, J. (2019). The contradiction of the Sustainable Development Goals: Growth versus ecology on a finite planet. Sustainable Development, 27(5), 873–884. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1947
Huttmanová, E. (2016). Sustainable development and sustainability management in the European Union countries. European Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(4), 475–482. https://doi.org/10.14207/ejsd.2016.v5n4p475
IMF (2020). IMF and the Sustainable Development Goals. International monetary fund. Retrieved April 8, 2020, from https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/16/46/Sustainable-Development-Goals
International Council for Science (2015). Review of the Sustainable Development Goals: the science perspective. International Council for Science (ICSU), Paris. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://council.science/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SDG-Report.pdf
International Council for Science (2017). A guide to SDG interactions: From science to implementation. International Council for Science (ICSU), Paris. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://council.science/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SDGs-Guide-to-Interactions.pdf
Išljamović, S., Jeremić, V., Petrović, N., & Radojičić, Z. (2015). Colouring the socio-economic development into green: I-distance framework for counties’ welfare evaluation. Quality & Quantity, 49, 617–629. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-014-0012-0
Jabbari, M., Motlagh, M. S., Ashrafi, K., & Abdoli, G. (2019). Differentiating countries based on the sustainable development proximities using the SDG indicators. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 22, 6405–6423. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-019-00489-z
Jain, A. K. (2010). Data clustering: 50 years beyond K-means. Pattern Recognition Letters, 31(8), 651–666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patrec.2009.09.011
Janković, ŠS., Anokić, A., Jelic, D. B., & Maletić, R. (2016). Ranking EU countries according to their level of success in achieving the objectives of the sustainable development strategy. Sustainability, 8(4), 306. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8040306
Jayaraman, R., Colapinto, C., La Torre, D., & Malik, T. (2015). Multi-criteria model for sustainable development using goal programming applied to the United Arab Emirates. Energy Policy, 87, 447–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.09.027
Kahuthu, A. (2006). Economic growth and environmental degradation in a global context. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 8(1), 55–68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-005-0785-3
Kaufmann, D., & Kraay, A. (n.d.) The Worldwide governance indicators (WGI) project. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/
Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A., & Mastruzzi, M. (2011). The Worldwide governance indicators: Methodology and analytical issues. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 3(2), 220–246. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1876404511200046
Kc, S., Barakat, B., Goujon, A., Skirbekk, V., Sanderson, W., & Lutz, W. (2010). Projection of populations by level of educational attainment, age, and sex for 120 countries for 2005–2050. Demographic Research, 22, 383–472. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2010.22.15
Killick, T., White, H., Kayizzi-Mugerwa, S., & Savane, M.A. (2001). African poverty at the Millennium: Causes, complexities and challenges. World Bank, Washington, DC. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/104521468767420556/African-poverty-at-the-millennium-causes-complexities-and-challenges
Kurniawan, R., & Managi, S. (2018a). Measuring long-term sustainability with shared socioeconomic pathways using an inclusive wealth framework. Sustainable Development, 26(6), 596–605. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1722
Kurniawan, R., & Managi, S. (2018b). Economic growth and sustainable development in Indonesia: An assessment. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 54(3), 339–361. https://doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2018.1450962
Le Blanc, D. (2015). Towards integration at last? The Sustainable Development Goals as a network of targets. Sustainable Development, 23(3), 176–187. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1582
Lutz, W., Cuaresma, J. C., & Sanderson, W. (2008). The demography of educational attainment and economic growth. Science, 319(5866), 1047–1048. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1151753
Lutz, W., & Samir, K. C. (2011). Global human capital: Integrating education and population. Science, 333(6042), 587–592. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1206964
Madhulatha, T. S. (2012). An overview on clustering methods. IOSR Journal of Engineering, 2(4), 719–772.
Moyer, J. D., & Hedden, S. (2020). Are we on the right path to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals? World Development, 127, 104749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104749
Mukherjee, S., & Chakraborty, D. (2013). Is environmental sustainability influenced by socioeconomic and sociopolitical factors? Cross-country empirical evidence. Sustainable Development, 21(6), 353–371. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.502
Munier, N. (2006). Economic growth and sustainable development: Could multicriteria analysis be used to solve this dichotomy? Environment, Development and Sustainability, 8(3), 425–443. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-005-8505-6
Nash, H. A. (2009). The European Commission’s sustainable consumption and production and sustainable industrial policy action plan. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17(4), 496–498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.08.020
Nilsson, M., Chisholm, E., Griggs, D., Howden-Chapman, P., McCollum, D., Messerli, P., Neumann, B., Stevance, A., Visbeck, M., & Stafford-Smith, M. (2018). Mapping interactions between the Sustainable Development Goals: Lessons learned and ways forward. Sustainability Science, 13(6), 1489–1503. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0604-z
Nwankwo, S., & Richards, D. C. (2001). Privatization: The myth of free market orthodoxy in sub-Saharan Africa. The International Journal of Public Sector Management, 14(2), 165–179.
OECD (2019). Measuring Distance to the SDG Targets 2019: An assessment of where OECD countries stand. Organisation for economic cooperation and development, Paris. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.oecd.org/sdd/measuring-distance-to-the-sdg-targets-2019-a8caf3fa-en.htm
Petrov, V., Trivić, N., & Ćelić, Đ. (2018). Assessing sustainability of the Southeast European economies. Ekonomika Poljoprivrede, 65(2), 519–529. https://doi.org/10.5937/ekoPolj1802519P
Pineiro-Villaverde, G., & García-Álvarez, M. T. (2020). Sustainable consumption and production: Exploring the links with resources productivity in the EU-28. Sustainability, 12(21), 8760. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12218760
Pradhan, P., Costa, L., Rybski, D., Lucht, W., & Kropp, J. P. (2017). A systematic study of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) interactions. Earth’s Future, 5(11), 1169–1179. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EF000632
Ranis, G., Stewart, F., & Ramirez, A. (2000). Economic growth and human development. World Development, 28(2), 197–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(99)00131-X
Ray, S., & Turi, R. H. (1999). Determination of number of clusters in k-means clustering and application in colour image segmentation. In Proceedings of the 4th international conference on advances in pattern recognition and digital techniques (pp. 137–143).
Ripple, W., Wolf, C., Newsome, T., Barnard, P., & Moomaw, W. (2020). World scientists’ warning of a climate emergency. BioScience, 70(1), 8–12. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz088
Ripple, W. J., Wolf, C., Newsome, T. M., Galetti, M., Alamgir, M., Crist, E., Mahmoud, M. I., & Laurance, W. F. (2017). World scientists’ warning to humanity: A second notice. BioScience, 67(12), 1026–1028. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/bix125
Sachs, J. D. (2012). From millennium development goals to Sustainable Development Goals. The Lancet, 379(9832), 2206–2211. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60685-0
Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., & Fuller, G. (2019). Sustainable Development Report 2019. Bertelsmann stiftung and sustainable development solutions network (SDSN). Retrieved April 4, 2020 from https://s3.amazonaws.com/sustainabledevelopment.report/2019/2019_sustainable_development_report.pdf
Sachs, J. D., Schmidt-Traub, G., Mazzucato, M., Messner, D., Nakicenovic, N., & Rockström, J. (2019a). Six transformations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Sustainability, 2(9), 805–814. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0352-9
Sarvajayakesavalu, S. (2015). Addressing challenges of developing countries in implementing five priorities for Sustainable Development Goals. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 1(7), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1890/EHS15-0028.1
Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Teksoz, K., Durand-Delacre, D., & Sachs, J. D. (2017). National baselines for the Sustainable Development Goals assessed in the SDG Index and Dashboards. Nature Geoscience, 10(8), 547–555. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2985
Schwab, K. (2019). The global competitiveness Report 2019. World Economic Forum. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2019.pdf
Shinwell, M., & Cohen, G. (2020). Measuring countries’ progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: Methodology and challenges. Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, 17(1), 167–182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40844-019-00132-6
Stanujkic, D., Popovic, G., Zavadskas, E. K., Karabasevic, D., & Binkyte-Veliene, A. (2020). Assessment of progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals of the “Agenda 2030” by using the CoCoSo and the Shannon Entropy methods: The case of the EU Countries. Sustainability, 12(14), 5717. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145717
Stevens, C. (2010). Linking sustainable consumption and production: The government role. Natural Resources Forum, 34(1), 16–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-8947.2010.01273.x
Stoll-Kleemann, S., & O’Riordan, T. (2015). The sustainability challenges of our meat and dairy diets. Environment Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 57(3), 34–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2015.1025644
The World Bank (n.d.). World bank country and lending groups. Retrieved April 6, 2020, from https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups
The World Bank (2019). World development indicators. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from http://datatopics.worldbank.org/worlddevelopment-indicators/
The World Bank Group (2017). Implementing the 2030 Agenda—2017 Update. The World Bank. Retrieved April 6, 2020, from http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/491561500316509118/FINAL-web-2030AgendaUpdate-20170713.pdf
Thilagamani, S., & Shanthi, N. (1999). Literature survey on enhancing cluster quality. International Journal on Computer Science and Engineering, 2(6), 2010.
Tibshirani, R., Walther, G., & Hastie, T. (2001). Estimating the number of clusters in a data set via the gap statistic. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (statistical Methodology), 63(2), 411–423. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9868.00293
Tou, J. T., & Gonzalez, R. C. (1974). Pattern recognition principles. Addison-Wesley.
Union of Concerned Scientists. (1992). World scientists' warning to humanity. Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved April 6, 2020, from https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/1992-world-scientists-warning-humanity
United Nations (2015, October 21). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Retrieved April 2, 2020, from https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E
United Nations (2016). The Sustainable Development Goals report 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210582599/read
United Nations (2017). The Sustainable Development Goals report 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789213617151/read
United Nations (2018). The Sustainable Development Goals report 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789213633175/read
United Nations (2019). The Sustainable Development Goals report 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210478878/read
United Nations (2020). The Sustainable Development Goals report 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210049603/read
Vorontsova, A., Vasylieva, T., Bilan, Y., Ostasz, G., & Mayboroda, T. (2020). The influence of state regulation of education for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: case study of Central and Eastern European countries. Administratie si Management Public, 34, 6–26. https://doi.org/10.24818/amp/2020.34-01
Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2009). The spirit level. Penguin Books.
Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2010). The spirit level Why more equal societies almost always do better (2nd ed.). Allen Lane.
Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2018). The inner level. Penguin Books.
Yeats, A. J., Amjadi, A., Reincke, U., & Ng, F. (1996). What caused Sub-Saharan Africa’s marginalization in world trade? Finance and Development, 33(4), 38.
Žalik, K. R. (2008). An efficient k-means clustering algorithm. Pattern Recognition Letters, 29(9), 1385–1391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patrec.2008.02.014
Zaman, K., & Abd-el Moemen, M. (2017). Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic development: Evaluating alternative and plausible environmental hypothesis for sustainable growth. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 74, 1119–1130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.02.072
Acknowledgements
A part of this study was presented at 20th International Symposium on Econometrics, Operations Research and Statistics, Ankara, Turkey, 12–14 February 2020.
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest and competing interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Çağlar, M., Gürler, C. Sustainable Development Goals: A cluster analysis of worldwide countries. Environ Dev Sustain 24, 8593–8624 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01801-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01801-6