I

There must be good policies: The Commission for Growth and Development was clear that
long-term periods of shared prosperity and sustained poverty reduction is driven by:
o

A countrys openness to the global economy and a countrys ability to trade

Macroeconomic stability

Public investment in key areas such as infrastructure and education

A policy and regulatory environment that encourages private sector investment

A functioning market system.

There must be open and accountable national economic institutions that create a fair
and predictable, enabling environment for business growth and positive incentives for
innovation, investment and enterprise. In particular, secure property and land rights and
efficient and effective mechanisms for enforcing commercial agreements and resolving
disputes.
Promoting gender equality will increase economic growth. Womens economic
opportunities are associated with reduced poverty, faster growth and better economic, health
and educational outcomes for the next generation. We must support womens economic
leadership and empowerment and address violence against women. This will ensure the
barriers that currently prevent women from productive employment, access to assets and
financial services and taking forward business opportunities are addressed.
Investment in human capital is needed. Investing in education and health enables
economic growth and reduces poverty. A healthy, well trained and educated labour force will
increase international competitiveness and attract private sector investment.
Investment in productive infrastructure is also key. Infrastructure which deals with
production bottlenecks and increases the productive capacity of the economy improves access
to markets and economic services, stimulates enterprise opportunities, increases productivity
and generates employment. Improved access to infrastructure also plays a significant role in
promoting gender equality and empowering women.
Growth needs to be inclusive. It needs to create sufficient productive jobs and provide
access to markets, inclusive financial services and other economic assets for all. All segments
of society need to be able to participate in the growth process and the government should
provide active help to achieve this. In addition, pockets of poverty and high inequality are a
barrier to sustained growth, and inequality can undermine social cohesion and political
stability. In such circumstances, social protection systems including social safety nets and
1

transfers may be needed to ensure that growth is inclusive. Poverty eradication, inequality and
tackling vulnerabilities should be an explicit focus. An inclusive approach helps the most
vulnerable overcome the barriers that prevent them from participating in the (formal)
economy.
Growth must be sustainable and critically, natural resources should be managed in the long
term interest of countries and people. Integrating environmental sustainability and natural
capital into economic decision making will allow us to plan for sustainable growth. Policies
should ensure peoples access to natural resources, clean air, clean water and sound
ecosystems, to secure their livelihoods for the longer term. All countries should progress
towards sustainable production and consumption patterns, ensuring that growth can be
sustained, that natural capital will be secured for future generations, and that climate change is
addressed.
This OWG has an important opportunity to make a compelling case for high and
sustained growth and economic transformationthat:
o

Is inclusive and sustainable and leaves no one behind

Builds shared prosperity creates jobs and eradicates poverty

o Fosters open markets, international trade, robust economic institutions, and private sector
development

Manages natural resources effectively and efficiently

And builds an international enabling environment to achieve this.

We believe this is best done through

o A stable macro-economic environment. An enabling business environment and robust
economic institutions that reduce the costs and risk of doing business, reward
entrepreneurship and innovation, and create vibrant and competitive markets, that provide
opportunities to join global and regional value chains.
o Access to economic and social infrastructure for all. All individuals and firms to have
access to energy, information and communications technologies (ICT), roads and transport
services as well as healthcare and education.
o An inclusive and open multilateral trading system which enables all countries to
engage in global markets
o Access to financial services for all (inclusive finance) to help households and firms save
and invest

o The removal of impediments to marginalised groups (including women) and, where

necessary, the provision of social protection systems that provide safety nets.
o Inclusive political institutions participation in political processes; civic engagement;
freedom of speech, association and protest; independent media; access to justice; open
governments.
o Better management of natural resources and valuing natural capital: We need
improved energy security and efficiency, food security, resource efficiency; greater resilience
to and mitigation of climate change, as well as more sustainable and productive use of natural
assets.
o Education, health and womens empowerment are critical enablers of economic
growth. A healthy child can attend school and learn, a healthy and educated adult can
participate as a productive member of the labour force, and can invest in their family and in
their own retirement.
In summary high rates of global growth are essential for global prosperity in all
countries and eradicating poverty. But this must be pursued alongside inclusive policies,
strong institutions and managing natural resources effectively. Country level growth strategies
thus need to be comprehensive including the appropriate macroeconomic policy settings,
placing trade and investment as the engine of growth, facilitating private sector investment in
infrastructure, supporting economic opportunities for women, boosting employment and
participation and undertaking structural reforms that improve the enabling environment for
business.
Productive and efficient use of energy is essential for sustainable economic development.
We need to recognise the links between energy and other crosscutting development
issues. Schools, health facilities and other vital institutions cannot function without
modern energy. Clean and sustainable energy, and especially clean cooking, can prevent
major health damage to millions of people.
II
UNDP developed Human Development Index (HDI) which is published annually and
comprises four sets of data: life expectation at birth, adult literacy rate, combined gross
enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools and GDP per capita. Although
HDI covers only a limited set of sustainable development indicators it is very suitable in
describing development levels.
Environmental Sustainability Index, ESI-2005 has been developed by Columbia University
and Yale University, USA. ESI comprises 76 variables, which are aggregated into 21
indicators grouped together in 5 categories. ESI covers the broad range of aspects of
sustainable development, but it is not very transparent due to the great amount of data and
inconvenient for updating.
3

Index for Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) was based on the methodology presented in
Daly and Cobb (1989) and since then calculated for over 10 countries. In the ISEW index
GDP is adjusted for items that are currently not included in the scope of standard national
accounts but influence future welfare. Methodology for calculation of this index will be
presented in the next chapter and applied to the Croatian economy. The Genuine Progress
Indicator (GPI) is similar to ISEW and measure whether or not a country's growth, increased
production of goods, and expanding services have actually resulted in the improvement of the
welfare (or well-being) of the people in the country (Lawn, 2003).
III
The purpose of this paper is to present importance of sustainable development. After
introductory remarks the second section gives an explaination of sustainable development
definition. In section three some aspects of sustainable development are presented in
European Union, as well as in Croatia.
Various aspect of such a complexed subject can also be seen through papers of several
authors. It is imposible to give unique comprehensive definition of sustainable development,
because of consistance of many views and components. Many countries have recognized the
importance of sustainable development. Within their development policies as a part of
economic policy objective they included this concept as well. Certain country policies and
their strategies of sustainable development can serve as a good suggestion concept.
Sustainable development is directly related with economic development, comprising process
of improving standard of living and welfare of one country population increasing its income
per capita.
There is many indicators, economic, social, environmental and institutional that are used to
monitor the progress of European Union sustainable development. The indicators are grouped
into ten themes.
The socio-economic indicator as one of European union Sustainable Development Strategy
indicators, is monitored by measuring GDP growth rate and GDP per capita. In 2008, for most
of the countries there is noted decrease of real GDP per capita in Euros and then barely in
2010 for most of the selected countries is noted a lingeringly on the level of preliminary 2007.
As an example we can extract a case of some developed European union countries, like
Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria that show the same type of trend and on the
other hand the situation in less developed areas annotated with lower real GDP per capita in
Euros that notes something different rule of rise/fall real GDP per capita in Euros through
four years. From chosen countries, that we include in less developed countries related to
developed European Union countries, only Turkey has the same trend.
IV
This paper aims to capture the role of the analysis and assessment indicators of sustainable
development of EU Member States during the last years. Based on the EU sustainable
development indicators and not only it is shown how they can be used in the assessment of the
three major dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental.
According to Eurostat, in the last five years it can be observed a major fluctuation for the EU
27 key indicators. Regarding the growth rate of real GDP per capita (see Fig.1), on the whole
EU we find that in 2008 it drops, and as a response to the economic crisis, in 2009 dropped
sharply by 4.9%. After the recession period it is observed a positive moderate growth in two
4

years, by 1.7% in 2010 and 1.4% in 2011, and as a result of the economic slowdown in the
euro area, in 2012, is recorded a decrease of 0.7%. For the Member States, in terms of
"socioeconomic development", the highest declines in 2009, of real GDP per capita occurred
in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and also these are the countries that registered the largest
increase in 2011 and moderate increase in 2012. Greece and Spain are the only Member States
of the EU that have decreased during the last five years; Spain decrease is much lower than
that of Greece.
Regarding the evolution of the theme "social inclusion", it is noted that the number of people
at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU during the period 2008 - 2009 was reduced by
approximately 2 million, then continued to increase until 2011 and also a growth is estimated
a for 2012.
The EU 27 employment rate of older workers increased throughout the period 2008-2012,
from 45.6% to 48.9%, so there has been an attenuation of demand for pension expenses.
The "demographic change" theme has recorded a growing trend in the employment rate of
older people in most of the countries, less in Greece, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia.
Regarding key indicators for "climate change and energy" theme, since 2008, per assembly,
the EU progress was relatively satisfactory. The EU economy is a bag consumer of energy and
carbon, and the associates key indicators within this theme are closely linked to economic
growth. The greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in EU 27 decreased between 2008 and 2011
with about 7%.