Beyond the twin transitions: Measuring EU Member States’ multidimensional performance with composite indicators
Ippubblikat: 15 December 2025
This research report presents a holistic, multidimensional framework for measuring the economic and social performance of EU Member States, including in terms of their EU’s green and digital twin transitions, through composite indicators. Extending the established Landesmann and Székely model, this study incorporates six key dimensions – economic, social, institutional, environmental, digital, and social cohesion and trust – into the model to capture the complex, interdependent dynamics of socioecological progress. Moving beyond existing monitoring dashboards that often operate in policy silos, this holistic model is designed to capture the full picture of progress and resilience. Using a rigorous methodology grounded in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Joint Research Centre’s Handbook on constructing composite indicators, a new composite index, the Multidimensional Progress Index, was constructed based on 54 individual indicators covering 2018–2022. The findings reveal significant disparities in performance across the EU, with strong positive correlations among the digital, institutional and economic dimensions and more complex relationships in the social and environmental spheres. This research report details the construction and testing of the composite index. It is accompanied by an interactive web tool that allows users to customise the index and explore the results, offering a dynamic platform for evidence-based policymaking.
Jekk jogħġbok innota li l-biċċa l-kbira tal-pubblikazzjonijiet tal-Eurofound huma disponibbli esklussivament bl-Ingliż u bħalissa mhumiex qed jiġu tradotti awtomatikament.
Din it-taqsima tipprovdi informazzjoni dwar id-data li tinsab f'din il-pubblikazzjoni.
List of tables
Table 1: Indicators assessed in the economic dimension, 2018–2022
Table 2: Indicators assessed in the social dimension, 2018–2022
Table 3: Indicators assessed in the institutional dimension, 2018–2022
Table 4: Indicators assessed in the environmental dimension, 2018–2022
Table 5: Indicators assessed in the digital dimension, 2018–2022
Table 6: Indicators assessed in the social cohesion and trust dimension, 2018–2022
Table 7: Weighting process information
Table 8: Correlation between MPI scores and those of other global indices, 2022
Table 9: Convergence in the MPI and its dimensions
Table 10: Ranking simulation results
List of figures
Figure 1: MPI dimensions
Figure 2: The conceptual framework adopted in this work
Figure 3: The economic dimension, or the ‘means’
Figure 4: The social dimension, or the ‘ends’
Figure 5: The institutional dimension, or the ‘ways’
Figure 6: The environmental dimension
Figure 7: The digital dimension
Figure 8: The social cohesion and trust dimension
Figure 9: The structure of the composite index
Figure 10: Distribution of weights for each dimension following the Monte Carlo simulation
Figure 11: Member State MPI scores in 2022
Figure 12: Member States grouped by MPI performance, 2018 and 2022
Figure 13: Economic dimension scores
Figure 14: Member States grouped by economic dimension performance, 2018 and 2022
Figure 15: Social dimension scores
Figure 16: Member States grouped by social dimension performance groups, 2018 and 2022
Figure 17: Institutional dimension scores
Figure 18: Member States grouped by institutional dimension performance, 2018 and 2022
Figure 19: Environmental dimension scores
Figure 20: Member States grouped by environmental dimension performance, 2018 and 2022
Figure 21: Digital dimension scores
Figure 22: Member States grouped by digital dimension performance, 2018 and 2022
Figure 23: Social cohesion and trust dimension scores
Figure 24: Member States grouped by social cohesion and trust dimension performance, 2018 and 2022
Figure 25: Horizontal dendrogram showing hierarchical clustering among Member States
Figure 26: Bivariate Pearson correlation between the MPI and its dimensions, 2022
Figure 27: Beta convergence within the institutional dimension, 2018–2022
Figure 28: Uncertainty analysis results: ranking variability for each Member State
Figure 29: Sensitivity analysis results
Figure 30: Index map featured on the landing page
Figure 31: View of the web tool allowing users to compare the weighted EU average and a Member State’s score for each dimension: Austria example
Figure 32: View of the web tool page that allows users to assign importance to the dimensions of the MPI
Figure 33: User-customised bar chart of index values
Il-Eurofound jirrakkomanda li din il-pubblikazzjoni tiġi kkwotata kif ġej.
Eurofound (2025), Beyond the Twin Transition: measuring multidimensional performance across the EU, Eurofound research paper, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
