Sustainable Development of One of the Poorest Province of the European Union: Lublin Voivodeship, Poland – Attempt of Assessment

This paper presents the attempt of sustainable development assessment for one of the poorest regions of the European Union (EU), Lublin Voivodeship in Poland, during its first decade in the EU, i.e. 2004-2013. Our analyses, performed for all pillars of sustainability: social, economic and environmental-technical, were based on sustainable development indicators (SDIs). The set of 21 sustainable development indicators, based on freely available statistical data, was proposed in this paper. The SDIs for Lublin Voivodeship were compared to values for Poland and the European Union. The special attention was put to assessment of sustainable development diversification between urbanized and rural areas of Poland and Lublin province. Our analyses showed than both, Poland and Lublin Voivodeship, clearly developed during the last decade but their sustainable development is still endangered and slowed down by several causes. Moreover, the value of most tested sustainability indicators was significantly below the European mean.