About 10% of the world population suffered from hunger in 2018. Thereby, the main objective of this research is the identification of environmental drivers and inhibitors of a country’s food security in the short and long run. The Food Security Index (FSI) was constructed from 19 indicators using Principal Component Analysis. Identification of the short- and long-run relationships between the FSI and environmental factors was realized with the pooled mean-group estimator for 28 post-socialistic countries for 2000–2016. Empirical research results showed that a country’s food security in the short run is affected by greenhouse gas emissions but boosted by the increase of renewable energy production. Reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, electrification of rural populations, access to clean fuels, renewable energy production, arable land, and forest area growth might be essential tasks in order to ensure countries’ food security in the long-run.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic led to a catastrophic burden on the healthcare system and increased expenditures for the supporting medical infrastructure. It also had dramatic socioeconomic consequences. The purpose of this study is to identify the empirical patterns of healthcare expenditures’ influence on sustainable economic growth in the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods. Fulfilment of the research task involves the implementation of two empirical blocks: (1) development of a Sustainable Economic Growth Index based on public health, environmental, social, and economic indicators using principal component analysis, ranking, Fishburne approach, and additive convolution; (2) modelling the impact of different kinds of healthcare expenditures (current, capital, general government, private, out-of-pocket) on the index using panel data regression modelling (random-effects GLS regression). Regression results in the pre-pandemic period show that the growth of capital, government, and private healthcare expenditures positively influence sustainable economic growth. In 2020–2021, healthcare expenditures did not statistically significantly influence sustainable economic growth. Consequently, more stable conditions allowed capital healthcare expenditures to boost economic growth, while an excessive healthcare expenditure burden damaged economic stability during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the pre-pandemic period, public and private healthcare expenditures ensured sustainable economic growth; out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures dominantly contributed to the pandemic period.

The Food Security Index (consists of 19 indicators) was developed to assess the impact of environmental determinants on the state of food security. The formation of the integral index was carried out using principal component analysis. The proportions of the inclusion of each of the 19 indicators are based on the eigenvalues of the 1st principal component that explains 48.37% of the variation. Identification of the environmental factors influence on the Food Security Index was carried out using panel data regression analysis (random-effect GLS regression) for the sample of 28 post socialistic countries for the period 2000-2016. Empirical results reveal a statistically significant positive effect of most ecological determinants of sustainable agro-management on food security. While the impact of growth in coal use for electricity and fossil fuels is insignificant. However, the increase in the consumption of electricity and growth of unproductive energy losses negatively affects the food security.