Daugiakriterių metodų panaudojimas vertinant darnų vystymąsi
The use of multi-criteria methods to evaluate sustainable development

Summary/Abstract: The relevance of this topic is reflected in new economic thinking of the current times, which argues that global progress can be achieved only by coordinating economic efficiency, social justice, environment protection and institutional role. The coordination of these principles into one system is the concept of sustainable development, which is based on the idea that the current generation must satisfy its needs by preserving the possibility for future generations to satisfy theirs. This view is as important in Lithuania as it is worldwide. Analyzing the situation of sustainable development in Lithuania, one misses the information which consistently evaluates sustainable development and uses the concrete multi-criterion method, one also misses integrated indexes which would allow to evaluate the sustainable development of the country. The object of the article - the evaluation of sustainable development. The purpose of the article – to evaluate sustainable development situation in Lithuania by using multi-criteria assessment methods. To achieve this purpose the following tasks were set: 1. To introduce the theoretical aspects of multicriteria methods; 2. To find out the methodology of calculating integrated sustainable development index; 3. To analize Lithuania’s sustainable development situation during the years 2000-2010. Research methods: systemic analysis, synthesis, comparison and generalization of scientific literature sources, structural, dynamic and causal analysis of statistical data. Concrete results of the research. The assessment of Lithuanian economic development in terms of sustainable development allows to identify the weak points in the economic development of the country, to analyze the changes and tendencies, to look for the possible solutions for economic, social, environmental and institutional problems. The were used four multi-criteria methods in this article: SAW (Simple Additive Weighting), TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution), COPRAS (Complex Proportional Assessment) and Integrated method. The best methods which can be chosen to evaluate sustainable development situation in Lithuania are TOPSIS and integrated methods. After conducting the analysis of sustainable development in Lithuania it was established that during the years 2000-2003 and during economic crisis in 2009 it was given bigger attention to institutional dimension to accieve important tasks (like joining European Union, solving economic problems, etc.). In 2009 economic development inex decreased by 34,39 per cent, social development index decreased by 6,13 per cent, environmental development index increased by 10,16 per cent while institutional development index increased by 41,93 per cent. Summarizing it can be concluded that sustainable development is a long-term strategy, ensuring clean and healthy environment as well as an increasing standard of living for the present and future generations.

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