China and Sustainable Development Performance in Economic Transition

Abstract

By conducting a cluster analysis for the period 1990–2014, this study compares the sustainable development performance of China’s economic transition with 41 other countries in transition. While the previous studies mainly used economic indicators as a comparison factor, this study uses economic, social, and environmental indicators, which are the three main pillars of sustainable development. The cluster analysis results indicate that China shows the most remarkable improvement in terms of sustainable development. The improvement was the largest among the other transition countries. In particular, the social and environmental sectors have improved significantly. Through further improvement in the economic sector, China would be the most successful transition country in sustainable development performance.