Measuring the Economic, Social and Environmental Performance of European Island Regions: Emerging Issues for European and Regional Policy

Islands in the European Union (EU) are very diverse, with many small or very small islands and are recognized as territories facing particular development challenges. In this study, we seek to compare the state and the attractiveness of island administration units in their national and EU context and highlight their divergence in different dimensions, building on existing analysis of the European Commission and of ESPON, using more indicators than the GDP per capita. The assessment is performed with the use of five different indexes: one for the state of development, one for changes during 2000-2006 and three for the attractiveness of islands (direct effects of insularity to attractiveness, indirect effects and natural and cultural potential of islands). Findings for economy demonstrate that islands with better economic performance either specialize in a low added value activity (tourism), or have their GDP boosted by exogenous influences (duty free area, oil extraction or the public sector). For attractiveness, most of the islands perform very low and the situation of small islands and archipelagos is worse. Since insularity can be considered as a permanent, natural feature affecting negatively, directly and indirectly, most of the factors that make islands attractive, the need for a territorial policy emerges.