Economy & Business, Volume 11, 2017

Rezumat: Social and economic changes and the technological progress in the past 30 years and a global propensity towards sustainable development are the challenges for the economic world. In this paper, we have identified the main factors that influence economic growth in the European Union countries, especially since in the past 15-20 years the European programs and strategies on sustainable development have become a priority. The aim of the paper is to analyse economic growth and sustainable development. The aim was achieved using statistical methods: descriptive statistics, exploratory analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression. The findings indicate that GDP per capita in 2015 depends on GDP per capita in 2014, on Healthy life years, labour productivity, and improved sanitation facilities. We can remark that there is a strong connection among economic, social, and ecological aspects.