Cluster Ensemble Stability in Clustering of EU Members in Terms of Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Recently, in taxonomy, two concepts often discussed in the literature are the cluster ensemble and the stability. An interesting proposal regarding the combination of these two concepts was presented by Șenbabaoğlu et al. (Sci Rep 4:6207, 2014), who proposed as a measure of stability a proportion of ambiguously clustered pairs (PAC) for selecting the optimal number of groups in cluster ensemble. This proposal appeared in the field of genetic research, but as the authors themselves write, this method can be successfully used also in other research areas. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present the economic application of the discussed method. Using the stability measure proposed by the above-mentioned authors in the aggregate approach, the goal is to cluster the European Union countries in terms of sustainable development goals and to check to what extent stable results will be obtained when changing methods for cluster ensemble construction. The study is based on data derived from Eurostat databases (2019) and refers only to three goals, i.e.: decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure and responsible consumption and production.