Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and Economic Development: An Inter-Country Analysis

摘要

In this study an effort has been made to analyze and compare the position of different countries by using the different environmental indicators responsible for the diversity In environment for which the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) has beenconstructed. The study attempts to establish the relationship between economic development and environmental quality as a whole instead of using individual indicators. A composite environmental index which summarizes the environment condition of a regionor country or state is more meaningful than individual indicators. Efforts have also been made to find the relationship between environmental performance and economic development. For constructing the EPI, 'Factor Analysis' has been employed to determine the relative weight of the selected indicators. In order to develop the Environmental Performance Index, twelve environmental indicators of 96 countries (maximum number of countries for which the data were available) have been used for the year 1990 and 2005. For year 2014, seventeen environmental indicators of 94 countries have been used.