Sustainable socio-economic development is a core element of the European Union's Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS). The strategy sets out the objective of promoting a prosperous, innovative, knowledge-rich, competitive and eco-efficient economy, which provides high living standards and full and high-quality employment throughout the European Union.
| Headline indicator | Operational objectives and targets | Actions/explanatory variables |
Real GDP per capita, growth rate and totals   | Economic development |
| Investment by institutional sectors | Dispersion of regional GDP per inhabitant |
| Net national income |
| Household saving rate |
| Innovation, competitiveness and eco-efficiency |
| Real labour productivity growth per hour worked | Total R&D expenditure |
| Real effective exchange rate |
| Turnover from innovation |
| Energy intensity of the economy |
| Employment |
| Total employment rate |
| Employment rate, by sex |
| Employment rate, by highest level of education attained |
| Dispersion of regional employment rates, by sex |
| Unemployment rate, by sex |
| Unemployment rate, by age group |
Evaluation of changes in socio-economic development (2011 monitoring)
The picture of the socio-economic development theme during the period 2000-2011 is mixed and some areas show slow, or even no progress:
- A period of rapid economic growth stalled with the financial crisis;
- Investment remained fairly stable expressed as a share of GDP;
- Regional disparities in economic activity diminished;
- Saving rate saw an upturn in response to the economic crisis;
- Labour productivity slowed with the crisis
- R&D expenditure lags behind the target path
- Absolute decoupling of energy consumption from economic growth
- Progress towards the 75 % employment target hindered by economic crisis and achievements in combating unemployment thwarted
- Gender gap in employment and unemployment is closing
More information on the evaluation of changes for the EU Sustainable Development Indicators (EU SDIs) on socio-economic development is available on Statistics Explained: Sustainable development - Socioeconomic development.
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