An Index of Social and Economic Development in the Community's Objective-1 Regions of Countries in Southern Europe

Abstract

In this article we calculate an indicator of social and economic development using the DP₂ distance method to measure the disparities in Objective-1 regions of southern European countries for 2006. In addition to per capita income, socio-economic components such as health, education, employment, scientific and technological development and infrastructure provision have been incorporated into the index. We examine the issue of whether the Europe Union regions included in the Convergence Objective achieved a lower level of development than the regions no longer covered in this objective for the 2007–2013 programming period by establishing a territorial classification based on the value yielded by the variables of the DP₂. Our indicator constitutes a novel contribution insofar as it was constructed using a large number of variables. In essence, we show that not all the regions of the Convergence Objective presented a lower level of economic and social development than those that lost this consideration between 2007 and 2013 and the opposite.

Acknowledgements

J.A.R. Martín, the main author of the article, gratefully acknowledges the financial support for the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spanish Government), within the framework of the VI National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation 2008–2011 (reference: ECO2010-17049 (subprogram ECON)).

Notes

In particular, investments made in the following categories are considered a priority: research and technological development (R&D); innovation and entrepreneurship; information society; transport; energy; protection and prevention of risks to the environment; improvement of workers’, firms’ and entrepreneurs’ possibilities of adaptation; improvement of access to employment; sustainability and improvement of human capital.

The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) was established by Eurostat more than 30 years ago for statistical purposes they were approved in the Community Legislation in 1988, but it was not until 2003 when they entered into operation in regulations of the European Parliament. By territorial unit is understood a geographical region with an established administrative authority with institutional and legal competence in the State in question. The NUTS classification is hierarchical in that it subdivides each Member State into three levels: NUTS 1, NUTS 2 and NUTS 3. Levels NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 are, respectively, subdivisions of levels NUTS 1 and NUTS 2. The Member States may opt for a greater degree of detail and subdivide the NUTS 3 level.