Zmiany w poziomie życia mieszkańców krajów Unii Europejskiej - badanie z zastosowaniem metody porządkowania liniowego w ujęciu dynamicznym
Changes in the standard of living of residents of European Union countries: a study using a linear ordering method in a dynamic approach

Summary/Abstract: The European Union is composed of countries among which considerable disparities in living standards are observed, and levelling them out is one of the priorities of the EU policy. The aim of the study discussed in this article is to compare the scale and trends in the changes in living standards across EU countries. The analyses were conducted on the basis of data for the years 2013-2022 from the Eurostat database. We used the method of linear ordering of multidimensional objects, normalising variables by means of the Strahl method in a dynamic approach, which allowed the quantification of changes in the studied phenomenon over time as well as the interpretation of the results in percentages. On the basis of 15 selected partial variables, a synthetic index of the standard of living was constructed, which was used to make a ranking of EU countries and compare the scale of changes in the studied phenomenon in the analysed period. The results of the research confirm long-standing disparities in the standard of living across the populations of EU countries. In the studied period, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium boasted an index of standard of living considerably higher than that of other EU countries. The lowest standard of living, on the other hand, was consistently observed in Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Croatia and Greece. All the studied countries saw an increase in the standard of living in the analysed period, although the scale of changes was different in different countries. A greater increase in the indicator was mostly observed in lower-ranked countries, which means that they developed faster than the others and there is a chance of the living standards converging across the whole EU in the future.

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