Composite Indicator of Social Inclusion for the EU Countries

Abstract

Social inclusion is one of the key challenges of the European Union Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS). We use the main indicators identified by Eurostat within the operational objectives of the specific European policies to measure social inclusion for the 27 member countries of the European Union. In particular, we aggregate four basic indicators in a multiplicative composite indicator via a DEA-BoD approach with weights determined endogenously with proportion constraints. We obtain a score of social inclusion that allows us to grade the 27 EU countries from 2006 to 2010. In this way, we highlight the specific role played by the four indicators in determining improvements and deteriorations of social inclusion during the European phase of the financial and economic crisis.