Socio-Economic Development in the EU Member States - Concept and Classification

The analysis and evaluation of levels of socio-economic development in various countries has become of greater scientific and practical significance in recent years. This makes it possible to locate the position of a given country in a specific group, evaluate change dynamics or the impact of various determinants on the diversity of development. A country's economic development can be defined as the continuity of change in its socio-economic life that results in improved living standards of its citizens as well as on the organization of structures and on-going processes in the country. The authors have attempted to highlight the level of socio-economic development in the EU between 2005 and 2010. The basis of the evaluation was the construction, from a dynamic perspective, of a general synthetic measure of socio-economic development that takes account of different aspects of a country's socio-economic development, namely, demographic and labour market potentials, economic as well as social and technical potentials. The various aspects of development were based on 27 diagnostic features chosen on the basis of merit and statistical formality. Particular attention was given to countries that gained the EU membership after 2004.