Countries that have similar EPI scores may still have very different patterns across the 25 indicators and policy categories. To help governments identify peer countries that are similarly situated with respect to the individual indicators, a statistical procedure known as cluster analysis has been carried out (for further information, refer to the Methodology section). This process allows grouping of countries in terms of overall similarity across the 25 indicators. This process generated seven country clusters that can be useful as a way to help countries look beyond their income-level or geographic peer groups for models of environmental success in countries facing similar challenges.
This cluster comprises a group of geographically disparate countries with close-to-average scores on most indicators, but relatively low scores on some indicators related to environmental health as well as biodiversity.
A small, geographically-diverse group, the countries in cluster two score close to the average on most indicators, but have high per-capita carbon emissions, and relatively low scores on the biodiversity indicators.
Cluster three primarily consists of a group of developing and transition economies, with low scores on environmental health. However, they have scored relatively well on climate change due to the low carbon intensity of their economies.
Countries in cluster four are primarily developing economies and transition economies characterized by commendable protection of natural resources, but a relatively poor performance in overall environmental health.
Cluster five is a relatively large group of countries encompassing several geographic regions and levels of development. These countries have impressive environmental health scores, but relatively low climate change scores, possibly due to the carbon-intensive electricity generation they engage in.
Cluster six comprises countries that have performed very well on the environmental health indicators. These are primarily carbon-intensive economies with high particulate concentrations. They also have relatively low biodiversity scores.
This cluster, like cluster five, is a large, geographically and economically diverse group of countries with high scores on environmental health indicators. They engage in low carbon-intensity electricity generation, and have relatively high scores in climate change.Their performance in other indicators is not significantly below average.
