Evaluating the Progress of the Balkan Region in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals by eLeR Model

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set in 2015 by the UN General Assembly to achieve global economic, social, ecological development until 2030. The Balkan Region in the South-eastern Europe have also accepted these goals. Ten countries in the region have similar geographic, environmental and economic features. This paper aims to compare the progress of Balkan countries in achieving the SDGs by employing a novel Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) model named as “eLeR””. This hybrid model is an integration of six MCDM methods to evaluate better the SDGs progress of Balkan countries than a traditional method. Criterion weights are determined by LOPCOW, LMAW and LBWA and the ranking is made by RAFSI, RAPS and RAWEC methods. As the outcome of the novel LR model, the SDG 1 is the most significant criterion out of 17 goals while Croatia is the best performer among ten Balkan countries in achieving the SDGs.