Multivariate Analysis of the Sustainable Development of the Silver Economy in the European Union Countries

The ageing of societies is one of the biggest challenges of the modern world. The response to this new reality is the development of the silver economy. It is a multidimensional concept that is an extremely important factor in sustainable development. The aim of this article is to compare EU countries according to selected aspects of the development of the silver economy. This study covered the years 2009-2021. It was conducted on the basis of data from the Eurostat database. This study used multivariate statistical analysis methods: k-means, COmplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS) in a dynamic approach, Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) and hierarchical clustering. EU countries differ in terms of the studied aspects of the silver economy in a north-south direction. In the period under study, there were significant changes in the country rankings and these changes were not the same for the EU countries. Also, most EU countries indicated improvements in terms of analyzed aspects of the silver economy. An innovative approach is the use of the COPRAS method in a dynamic approach, thanks to which it is possible to develop not only country rankings, but also to analyze the dynamics of changes.