Exploring Social Risks in the European Union Based on SDGs, Composite Indicators, and PCA

The Sustainable Development Goals have become a universally approved framework for evaluating both the status quo and the progress toward a new socio-economic structure, designed to improve life on earth. Therefore, aspects such as education, health, and climate change have been defined in detail in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which has been quickly adopted by the European Union. In the current paper, we have chosen to focus our attention on the SDG indicators that show a negative valence and classify them into four broad social risk categories: poverty, climate, labor, and health. Based on those, we have constructed four subsequent indicators, along with a total risk index, using a simple averaging process. Next, in the interpretation part, we aimed to study the risks from two perspectives: regionally, by using graphical representations of the EU, and evolutionary, by applying the same methodology for three distinct moments: 2015, 2019, and 2020. The periods were chosen based on two objectives. The first one was to assess the de facto state in the year the goals were adopted (2015) and the progress in a 5-year timeframe, and the second was to observe if there are any visible differences generated by the COVID-19 pandemic (thus the 2019 versus 2020 comparison). To complete the methodology, we employed a principal components analysis to assess whether the indicators selected would group similarly to the composite approach, with some significant changes. Lastly, considering the proposed framework, the subject at hand is analyzed through multiple focus points, providing insightful observations on the social risks prevalent in the EU scene.