European Indicators Research Articles

Evaluating perinatal health in Europe: a comparison of routine population birth data sources

Abstract Background International comparisons provide essential benchmarks for evaluating perinatal health policies, but these rely on the availability of routine national birth data. This study aimed to describe population birth data sources in Europe by their ability to provide core perinatal health indicators. Methods The Euro-Peristat Network collected routine national data on a recommended set of core indicators from 2015 to 2021 using a federated protocol based on a common data model with 17 data items. Data providers filled in an on-line questionnaire to describe the sources used in each country. We classified countries by the number of data items they provided (all 16, 15-14, <14). Results 28 out of the 31 countries that provided data responded to the survey. Routine data sources included birth certificates (14 countries), electronic medical records (EMR) from delivery hospitalizations (14 countries), direct entry by health providers (9 countries), EMR from other care providers (6 countries) and Hospital Discharge Summaries (7 countries). Completeness of population coverage was at least 98%, with 15 countries reporting 100%. These databases most often included mothers giving birth on the national territory, regardless of nationality or place of residence (19 countries). In 20 countries, routine sources were linked, including linkage between birth and death certificates (15 countries). Countries providing all 16 items (N = 8) were more likely to use EMRs from delivery hospitalizations, 88%, compared to 50% and 13% in countries with 15-14 items (N = 13) and <14 items (N = 8). Linkage was also more common in these countries, 100%, versus 75% and 50% respectively. Other data source characteristics did not differ by the ability to provide data for the common data model. Conclusions There is high diversity in the data sources used to construct perinatal health indicators in Europe. Countries using EMR with linkage to other sources had the best data availability. Key messages • There is high diversity in the data sources used to construct perinatal health indicators in Europe. • Countries using Electronic Medical Records with linkage to other sources had the best data availability.

China’s container freight prices on the global behavior of inflation rate after COVID-19

The main objective of this article is to analyze the relationship between increases in freight costs and inflation in the markets due to the increases reflected in the prices of the products in some economies in destination ports such as the United States, Europe, Japan, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and South Korea. We use fractionally integrated methods and Granger causality test to calculate the correlation between these indicators. The results indicate that, after a significant drop in inflation in 2020, probably due to the confinement caused by the pandemic, the increases observed in inflation and freight costs are expected to be transitory given their stationary behavior. We also find a close correlation between both indicators in Europe, the United States and South Africa.

CSR in Times of Crisis According to ESG Indicators in Europe: Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19

CSR in Times of Crisis According to ESG Indicators in Europe: Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19

Towards harmonising energy performance certificate indicators in Europe

Achieving the European Union's ambitious goal of transforming buildings into carbon-neutral assets is crucial for combating climate change and improving energy efficiency. The harmonization of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) plays a vital role in this effort. It can provide a standardized measure of building energy performance, which is crucial for benchmarking and improving energy efficiency across Member States. In the context of the recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) of 2024, this study examines the progress made by EU Member States in standardizing EPCs. The research aims to evaluate the implementation of EPC indicators, focusing on data quality, calculation methods, and costs. The methodological procedure followed for the study led to the development of a dedicated Cross Comparative Matrix (CCM) to assess the implementation of EPC indicators across 27 EU Member States and their reading feature allowed the declination into three scenarios for different EPC data analysis: qualitative, quantitative and burden costs. The findings reveal significant disparities, particularly in areas such as thermal comfort and smart readiness, due to the lack of a common methodology and local regulatory differences. While key indicators like energy performance class and primary energy use are widely implemented, compliance with EU standards varies. The study concludes by recommending standardized methodologies and enhanced assessor training to improve EPC quality, harmonization, and effectiveness. This research contributes to policy discussions by offering a comprehensive framework for EPC evaluation and insights into improving data quality, reliability, and accessibility. The originality of this study lies in its cross-national analysis, highlighting the need for a unified EPC scheme to promote building sustainability across the EU.

Assessing the equity and coverage policy sensitivity of financial protection indicators in Europe

Progress towards universal health coverage is monitored by the incidence of catastrophic spending. Two catastrophic spending indicators are commonly used in Europe: Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 3.8.2 and the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) indicator. The use of different indicators can cause confusion, especially if they produce contradictory results and policy implications. We use harmonised household budget survey data from 27 European Union countries covering 505,217 households and estimate the risk of catastrophic spending, conditional on household characteristics and the design of medicines co-payments. We calculate the predicted probability of catastrophic spending for particular households, which we call LISAs, under combinations of medicines co-payment policies and compare predictions across the two indicators. Using the WHO/Europe indicator, any combination of two or more protective policies (i.e. low fixed co-payments instead of percentage co-payments, exemptions for low-income households and income-related caps on co-payments) is associated with a statistically significant lower risk of catastrophic spending. Using the SDG indicator, confidence intervals for every combination of protective policies overlap with those for no protective policies. Although out-of-pocket medicines spending is a strong predictor of catastrophic spending using both indicators, the WHO/Europe indicator is more sensitive to medicines co-payment policies than the SDG indicator, making it a better indicator to monitor health system equity and progress towards UHC in Europe.

Measuring the digitalisation of electricity distribution systems in Europe: Towards the smart grid

This paper proposes a set of digitalisation indicators focused on measuring the different digital capabilities and infrastructure of electricity distribution systems, as opposed to previous indicators which have mainly focused on performance and quality of service aspects.The indicators are classified according to the pillars of digitalisation: sensor and actuator, connectivity, data processing, and digital culture. They are use-case-agnostic and do not require a huge amount of information. In addition to this, three possible new applications of these indicators for distribution system operators and regulatory authorities are identified and discussed.The extensive use of these indicators in Europe could allow the development of fruitful collaborations between distribution system operators, allow the identification of cause–effect relations between grid performance and digital infrastructure, and improve the replicability of innovative smart grid solutions. However, this will only be possible if regulators promote the adoption of the proposed indicators and the dissemination of their results.

Selection of primary health care quality indicators in Europe: A Delphi study protocol.

To describe a protocol to achieve consensus on valid and important indicators to assess primary health care (PHC) quality regarding all clinical contexts of PHC in European health systems. Qualitative study using the Delphi technique to gain consensus among European panels of experts comprising a heterogeneous professional background. Potential candidate indicators were extracted and translated according to a set of informative elements (i.e., name, description, formula, unit of analysis, and sources). This list was then independently reviewed, and duplicates were removed totaling 1726 indicators. To guarantee a good response rate, indicators were distributed across 57 Delphi panels organized by clinical context. Each panel is a Delphi process, assessing between 23 to 33 indicators. Experts' opinions on the validity and importance of the extracted indicators will be obtained through two rounds of online questionnaires, using a 9-point Likert scale and free-text boxes. To prevent biased responses, participation will be anonymous to other participants and to the team administrating panels. Consensus will be considered if at least 70% of ratings (≥7 assuming 10 participants) lie within the 7-9 range and less than 15% of ratings (<2 assuming 10 participants) are in the 1-3 range. Analysis of results will be streamlined and generalizable across panels using scripts. This protocol will contribute to improve the quality of PHC in Europe by achieving a consensual and concise list of PHC quality indicators retrieved from the scientific literature that fit current clinical guidelines and populations' needs in countries from the European region according to the World Health Organization.

Developing and testing a protocol using a common data model for federated collection and analysis of national perinatal health indicators in Europe.

Context: International comparisons of the health of mothers and babies provide essential benchmarks for guiding health practice and policy, but statistics are not routinely compiled in a comparable way. These data are especially critical during health emergencies, such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The Population Health Information Research Infrastructure (PHIRI) project aimed to promote the exchange of population data in Europe and included a Use Case on perinatal health. Objective: To develop and test a protocol for federated analysis of population birth data in Europe. Methods: The Euro-Peristat network with participants from 31 countries developed a Common Data Model (CDM) and R scripts to exchange and analyse aggregated data on perinatal indicators. Building on recommended Euro-Peristat indicators, complemented by a three-round consensus process, the network specified variables for a CDM and common outputs. The protocol was tested using routine birth data for 2015 to 2020; a survey was conducted assessing data provider experiences and opinions. Results: The CDM included 17 core data items for the testing phase and 18 for a future expanded phase. 28 countries and the four UK nations created individual person-level databases and ran R scripts to produce anonymous aggregate tables. Seven had all core items, 17 had 13-16, while eight had ≤12. Limitations were not having all items in the same database, required for this protocol. Infant death and mode of birth were most frequently missing. Countries took from under a day to several weeks to set up the CDM, after which the protocol was easy and quick to use. Conclusion: This open-source protocol enables rapid production and analysis of perinatal indicators and constitutes a roadmap for a sustainable European information system. It also provides minimum standards for improving national data systems and can be used in other countries to facilitate comparison of perinatal indicators.

Quality indicators: completeness, validity and timeliness of cancer registry data contributing to the European Cancer Information System.

All malignant tumours, except skin non-melanoma, and in situ and uncertain behaviour of bladder were obtained from 130 European general PBCRs for patients older than 19 years. Proportion of cases with death certificate only (DCO%), proportion of cases with unknown primary site (PSU%), proportion of microscopically verified cases (MV%), mortality to incidence (M:I) ratio, proportion of cases with unspecified morphology (UM%) and the median of the difference between the registration date and the incidence date were computed by sex, age group, cancer site, period and PBCR. A total of 28,776,562 cases from 130 PBCRs, operating in 30 European countries were included in the analysis. The quality of incidence data reported by PBCRs has been improving across the study period. Data quality is worse for the oldest age groups and for cancer sites with poor survival. No differences were found between males and females. High variability in data quality was detected across European PBCRs. the results reported in this paper are to be interpreted as the baseline for monitoring PBCRs data quality indicators in Europe along time.

Developing and testing a protocol using a common data model for federated collection and analysis of national perinatal health indicators in Europe

Context: International comparisons of the health of mothers and babies provide essential benchmarks for guiding health practice and policy, but statistics are not routinely compiled in a comparable way. These data are especially critical during health emergencies, such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The Population Health Information Research Infrastructure (PHIRI) project aimed to promote the exchange of population data in Europe and included a Use Case on perinatal health. Objective: To develop and test a protocol for federated analysis of population birth data in Europe. Methods: The Euro-Peristat network with participants from 31 countries developed a Common Data Model (CDM) and R scripts to exchange and analyse aggregated data on perinatal indicators. Building on recommended Euro-Peristat indicators, complemented by a three-round consensus process, the network specified variables for a CDM and common outputs. The protocol was tested using routine birth data for 2015 to 2020; a survey was conducted assessing data provider experiences and opinions. Results: The CDM included 17 core data items for the testing phase and 18 for a future expanded phase. 28 countries and the four UK nations created individual person-level databases and ran R scripts to produce anonymous aggregate tables. Seven had all core items, 17 had 13-16, while eight had ≤12. Limitations were not having all items in the same database, required for this protocol. Infant death and mode of birth were most frequently missing. Countries took from under a day to several weeks to set up the CDM, after which the protocol was easy and quick to use. Conclusion: This open-source protocol enables rapid production and analysis of perinatal indicators and constitutes a roadmap for a sustainable European information system. It also provides minimum standards for improving national data systems and can be used in other countries to facilitate comparison of perinatal indicators.

The impact of socio-economic indicators on COVID-19: an empirical multivariate analysis of sub-Saharan African countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented social and economic crisis. This study aims at investigating the impact of socio-economic indicators on the levels of COVID-19 (confirmed and death cases) in sub-Saharan Africa. The investigation makes use of the readily accessible public data: we obtain COVID-19 data from Johns Hopkins and socio-economic indicators from the World Bank. The socio-economic indicators (independent variables) used in the multilinear regression were GDP per capita, gross national income per capita, life expectancy, population density (people per sq. km of land area), the population aged 65 and above, current health expenditure per capita and total population. The dependent variables used were the COVID-19 confirmed and death cases. Amongst the seven socio-economic indicators, only 4 showed a statistically significant impact on COVID-19 cases: population density, gross national income per capita, population aged 65 and above and total population. The obtained R2 of 69% and 63% indicated that the socio-economic indicators captured and explained the variation of COVID-19 confirmed cases and COVID-19 death cases, respectively. The startling results obtained in this study were the negative but statistically significant relationship between COVID-19 deaths and population density and the positive and statistically significant relationship between gross national income per capita and COVID-19 cases (both confirmed and deaths). Both these results are at odds with literature investigating these indicators in Europe, China, India and the UK.

Венчурне фінансування в епоху зростання епідеміологічних ризиків

The relevance of the study of venture financing development in the era of increasing epidemiological risks is considered within the current situation in society, namely the significant impact of COVID-19 on all sectors of social and economic development. This shows the urgency of a systematic justification of current trends and peculiarities of venture financing development, taking into consideration the COVID-19 situation. The above-mentioned aspects define the purpose of our study. The theoretical basis of our study means the analysis of the specifics and priorities of venture financing, considering the timeframe from venture financing formation to nowadays. Thus, the stages of evolution of views on venture financing are highlighted. The article examines the dynamics of venture financing globally, as well as the change of relevant indicators in Europe, Asia and the United States. In particular, along with the analysis of the total amount of venture financing in each of the considered markets, the volumes of venture financing agreements that were carried out for the first time were estimated. This allowed us to analyze the relevant trends and make conclusions on the priority objects for attracting the resources of venture investors in the era of growth of epidemiological risks, depending on the experience of venture capitalists. The article compares venture funding and the incidence of COVID-19 in some countries in Europe, Asia and the United States. The approaches of European experts to the assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on venture financing are revealed. The analysis of the relevant calculations provides the possibility to structure the priorities of modern venture investors depending on the sectoral distribution of COVID-19 influences. The practical value of the study is considered within a comprehensive analysis of trends in venture financing and assessment of changes in the priorities of venture investors, considering the increasing epidemiological risks. The research may be useful both in the context of developing public venture financing policies and within developing venture financing strategies at the business level.

Infertility and reproductive rights after the COVID-19 pandemic

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020 by the World Health Organization, halting the principal income activities worldwide. The International Monetary Fund predicts that the imminent economic recession will be worse than the global financial crisis of 2008, which severely affected the economy of Southern European countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain. There was then an abysmal drop in the Spanish yearly population growth curve as families could not afford to have children in that economic context; this only worsened the already existing demographic problems in that Spain has a constantly ageing population and one of the lowest fertility indicators in Europe. Taking into consideration that female age is the most important independent variable of success at the time of conception, probably thousands of potentially fertile couples were lost while waiting for more promising circumstances. With the COVID-19 pandemic a similar situation is being faced, where reproductive rights are imperiled by not being able to choose when to have children due to economic coercion. Therefore, governments worldwide should take measures to palliate the possible sociodemographic crisis that will follow the economic recession and try to ease the burden that many families might face during the following years.

From big business to small and medium-sized enterprises: factors and prospects

The article considers changes in organizational structure (in the context of a shift in favor of small business), the main factors and long-term prospects of these changes. Enhancing the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in many countries of the world is described. The concept of SMEs, as well as the range of indicators measuring organizational structure, is defined. Modern trends that indicate the increasing role of small and medium-sized enterprises are shown. On the basis of dynamics of economic indicators in Europe and the United States, the increasing role of small and medium enterprises is investigated. It is shown that the increase in the share of the service sector is the result of market saturation. The influence of the service sector on the shifts in the organizational structure in the period of global economic changes, as well as the influence on the increasing share of more flexible and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in total employment and income, is argued. Increased competition in the process of saturation of the market is shown as one of the factors of the development of personal needs that promote individual entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators, for whom a complex and rigid structure of large organizations is the factor which limits the growth and interferes with their becoming the engines of scientific and technological progress. It is proved that in conditions when large corporations find themselves unable to identify a new micro niche quickly, small and medium enterprises are becoming the most convenient form for the realization and promotion of innovation. The transition from the dominance of large corporations to the dominance of SMEs in the process of substitution of technological modes is investigated. The increasing role of small and medium firms in the context of long-term trends of economic development is considered.

Changes in European Welfare State Regimes as a Response to Fertility Trends: Family Policy Perspective

Following 1945, that is the Second World War, Europe faced a huge demographic increase in the number of births, known as baby-boom. Encouraged by the improvement of the living conditions after the devastating war, the return of the optimism, opening of the employment opportunities and the renewal of the idea about the family, this demographic trend entailed the so-called familism tide. In the mid 1960-ies however, demographic indicators in almost all European countries began to change suddenly. Massive development of contraception, increased birth control and family planning, as well as higher employment of women and their integration in the labour market, took place. As a result of these trends, in the 1970-ties European countries faced a considerable drop in fertility rates. This trend reached its peak during 1970-1980-ties when a dramatic drop in fertility rates took place, known as baby-bust. As a consequence, almost everywhere in Europe, the fertility rate dropped below the level needed for simple population reproduction or below 2.1 children per woman. Several related trends also contributed to the change in the demographic picture of Europe, such as: dropping birthrates, shrinking of the population, delay in births (increase in the age of birth of the first child), increase in the number of one-child families, as well as growth in the number of couples without children (universality of births is no longer present – at least 1 child per family). Similar trends are evidenced in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CIE), with one considerable difference – they took place around a decade later compared to the developed European countries. One common characteristic which shaped the demographic changes in CIE countries was the fact that they occurred simultaneously with the radical changes of the societal system from socialism towards democracy in the 1990-ties. Due to this, demographic changes in CIE countries gain in weight, are furthermore under the influence of the transitional processes and thus differ considerably compared to those in the developed countries. The differences are heavily attributable to two sets of factors: a) different institutional settings, especially in the family policies related to employment of women and child raising; and b) different effects of these family policies upon fertility rates and participation of women in the labour market. Given the above demographic trends, welfare states in Europe, adjust accordingly, predominantly through the policies and measures of family policy as one of the social policy domains. Following a detailed statistical analysis of demographic indicators in Europe, this paper will produce an analysis of the family policy responses to demographic trends based on the Esping-Andersens’ classification of welfare states: universal welfare states (Nordic countries); conservative welfare states (Continental European countries); liberal social states (Anglo-Saxon countries) and South-European social states (Mediterranean countries). A specific focus in the paper will be also given to the demographic trends and corresponding family policy developments in the Republic of Macedonia, as a country of South Europe. Cross-cutting issues in the analysis of the family policy models will be: the extent to which family policies are gender-neutral or gender-specific (are they women-friendly and do they promote active fatherhood?), measures for harmonization of work and family life (are women appropriately supported in performing their roles of mothers and active participants in the labour market at the same time) and the scope in which family policy is being designed to serve the purposes of population policy (how the concern and the interest of the state to increase fertility rates shapes family policy?).

Health monitoring and health indicators in Europe

Demographic change, new health threats and inequalities in health and healthcare provision in and between European Union (EU) member states pose a great challenge to European health care systems. Not only for these reasons does it make sense to collect comparable European health data. Such information provides insights on the distribution of risk and protection factors, the prevalence of chronic diseases and the levels of care provided in the member states and supports the planning and implementation of (health) policy measures. Since 2013, in the context of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS), all EU member states are obliged to collect data on the health status, the provision of healthcare, health determinants and socio-economic conditions of their populations. In Germany, the EHIS is integrated into health monitoring at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The RKI is thus Germany's interface to the European health monitoring presented here. European health monitoring relies on different indicator systems such as the European Core Health Indicators (ECHI), EU social indicators and the health indicators of the European Sustainable Development Strategy. These are based on administrative and survey data, which stem for example from the EHIS or the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) survey. Comparative data analyses must take into account the differences between health care systems, socioeconomic conditions and the age structures of societies. Variances in the prevalence of allergies for example are also due to differences in the available diagnostic tools. Significant differences in the prevalence of hypertension in Europe (with a range of 20% for women and 17% for men) are also related to different levels of awareness of hypertension. Comparative analyses can support the planning of and provide information for policy measures, and enhance the sharing of experiences between EU member states. A forthcoming EU regulation aims to harmonise the content of and intervals between health and social statistical data collection. Moreover, plans exist to establish a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), which is set to develop and institutionalise European health monitoring.

LABOUR PROTECTION AND INDUSTRIAL SAFETY IN UKRAINE: PROBLEMS OF TRANSITION PERIOD AND PERSPECTIVE WAYS OF DEVELOPMENT

LABOUR PROTECTION AND INDUSTRIAL SAFETY IN UKRAINE: PROBLEMS OF TRANSITION PERIOD AND PERSPECTIVE WAYS OF DEVELOPMENT

Solving the Problem of Credit Defaults in Retail Sector

1. Introduction Under the conditions of general economic decline and reduction of consumer demand, credit responsibility of population reduced as well. This is caused primarily by aggravation of economic state in Russia--more and more Russians face loan delinquency. While up to this time the analysts have been able to state that the cause of this is low level of population literacy, nowadays economic factors and reasons come to the foreground. The problem of credit defaults in retail segment was studied by Russian and foreign scientists. Conceptual problems of credit defaults are presented in the works by Thalassinos, Liapis Thalassinos (2014), Thalassinos et al. (2013), Giovanni D'Alessio (2013), Dermine J., Netode Corvalho (2004), [PHI]pocT (2006) and others. Among the works by Russian authors, it is possible to distinguish A. Belousov (Belousov, 2014), V. Bobyl (Bobyl, 2014), E. Vaysbek (Vaysbek, 2014), O. Kuzina (Kuzina, 2013), E. Mozzhukhina (Mozzhukhina, 2013), and others. As the analysis showed, most researchers viewed determination of possible influence of sanctions on development of the spheres of national economies. At the same time, analysis of modern studies showed the necessity for further study of the viewed direction of banking retail and, especially, its applied sphere--which predetermined the direction of this research. 2. Analysis of dynamics of volume and annual rate of growth of retail credits delinquency Analysis of banking statistics data showed that the share of past-due debt in bank portfolio in retail segment exceeds the share of past-due debt for corporate profile: according to statistics of the Bank of Russia, it constituted 7.6%, as of the beginning of the second quarter of the current year, while in corporate segment--5.0%. The banking system has not seen such bad indicators recently (January 2013--March 2015) (Figure 1). Figure 1 shows that over 2010-2015, the share of delinquency on loans for individuals always exceeded the corresponding indicator for loans for companies. Only in the period of April 2012--September 2013, the share of individual loans delinquency was at the level of non-financial companies (legal entities) loan delinquency. As certain authors state, in some market segments the situation is nothing but critical. Thus, the highest delinquency is observed with consumer credits--15.2%, then go POS credits (14.9%), and secured credits (14.4%). According to one of the largest collecting agencies "Sequoia credit consolidation", the volume of past-due debt for auto loans constituted 47.6% in 2014, which exceeds the similar indicator of the previous year by 30%. It should be noted that the share of unsecured retail credits of the portfolio of homogeneous loans does not reduce, staying at the level of 54-56% (Figure 2). Many experts pay attention that Russians have failed to return credits in time. The share of credits to individuals, for which one or several payments are past due by more than 90 days grew by 2 times from January 1, 2014 to October 1, 2015, constituting 8.0%. Delinquency grows, despite the fact that banks actively clean their portfolios. Banks write hopeless debts off, and transfer other debts to collector agencies. According to analysts of the National agency of collecting, banks offered for sale delinquent loans for RUB 137 billion in the first half of 2014, while in the previous year the offer had not exceeded RUB 115 billion. At that, the prices for delinquent portfolios reduced by 20-25% in 2014 (Zhelobanov, 2014). The research showed that in mid-2012 the annual (as compared to the similar period of the previous year) growth rate achieved its peak values, exceeding the level of 40% (see Figure 3). At that, debt for unsecured consumer credits grew even faster annual growth rate in this sector constituted 60%. The analysis showed that a rather high indicator of penetration of consumer crediting in Russia exceeded this indicators in Europe by 2. …

COUNTRY-LEVEL SOCIOECONOMIC INDICATORS ASSOCIATED WITH SURVIVAL PROBABILITY OF BECOMING A CENTENARIAN AMONG OLDER EUROPEAN ADULTS: GENDER INEQUALITY, MALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION AND PROPORTIONS OF WOMEN IN PARLIAMENTS.

This study confirms an association between survival probability of becoming a centenarian (SPBC) for those aged 65 to 69 and country-level socioeconomic indicators in Europe: the gender inequality index (GII), male labour force participation (MLP) rates and proportions of seats held by women in national parliaments (PWP). The analysis was based on SPBC data from 34 countries obtained from the United Nations (UN). Country-level socioeconomic indicator data were obtained from the UN and World Bank databases. The associations between socioeconomic indicators and SPBC were assessed using correlation coefficients and multivariate regression models. The findings show significant correlations between the SPBC for women and men aged 65 to 69 and country-level socioeconomic indicators: GII (r=-0.674, p=0.001), MLP (r=0.514, p=0.002) and PWP (r=0.498, p=0.003). The SPBC predictors for women and men were lower GIIs and higher MLP and PWP (R 2=0.508, p=0.001). Country-level socioeconomic indicators appear to have an important effect on the probability of becoming a centenarian in European adults aged 65 to 69. Country-level gender equality policies in European counties may decrease the risk of unhealthy old age and increase longevity in elders through greater national gender equality; disparities in GII and other country-level socioeconomic indicators impact longevity probability. National longevity strategies should target country-level gender inequality.

THE COMPARISON OF THE EN-ROUTE HORIZONTAL FLIGHT TRAJECTORY COMPONENTS / HORIZONTALIŲ MARŠRUTINIŲ SKRYDŽIŲ TRAJEKTORIJOS KOMPONENTŲ PALYGINIMAS

EUROCONTROL aims at improving the design and use of the European routes. Inefficiencies in the design of airspace and use of the air route network are considered to be a major causal factor of flight inefficiencies in Europe. The European ATM system is the sum total of a large number of separate Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP) whereas the US system is operated by a single ANSP. Airspace fragmentation following National Borders makes flight routes inefficient due to non requested air routes, flight time, excessive fuel burn, CO and NOx emissions. That is the reason why airspace and the fixed route network should be reorganised to satisfy airspace operator needs and maintain required safety levels.The focus of the paper is to show the differences between planned flights and actual trajectories in terms of flight distance, duration and fuel burn. In connection with this, an overview of these indicators in Europe and the USA was made. EUROCONTROL siekia pagerinti Europos maršrutų planus ir jų naudojimą. Neefektyvus oro erdvės planų ir oro maršrutinio tinklo naudojimas laikomas viena pagrindinių Europos skrydžių neefektyvumo priežasčių. Europos oro eismo valdymo (angl. ATM) sistema sudaryta iš daugelio atskirų oro navigacijos paslaugų teikėjų (angl. ANSP), o JAV sistema valdoma vieno oro navigacijos paslaugų teikėjo. Oro erdvės susiskirstymas pagal valstybių ribas daro skrydžio maršrutus neefektyvius dėl nepareikalautų oro maršrutų, skrydžio laiko, per didelio kuro sunaudojimo, CO ir NOx išsiskyrimo. Štai kodėl reikėtų pertvarkyti oro erdvę ir fiksuotų maršrutų tinklą, norint patenkinti oro erdvės operatorių poreikius ir išlaikyti reikalingą saugumo lygį. Šio straipsnio tikslas – parodyti skirtumus tarp suplanuotų skrydžių ir realių trajektorijų, įvertinant skrydžio atstumą, trukmę ir kuro sunaudojimą. Be to, buvo padaryta šių rodiklių apžvalga Europos ir JAV mastu.