Objective: The relationship between health level (status) and economic level is an important research area in health economics literature, and countries with above-average health status indicators that have healthy economic indicators as well are generally accepted. The aims of the present study were to determine the position of countries based on their health status and economic indicators, to rank the performance of countries with respect to both groups of indicators, to observe the changes in and the relationship between health and economic performance ranking, and to examine the relationship between health and macroeconomic performance scores using correlation analysis.
Materials and methods: Multidimensional scaling was used to determine the countries’ position, and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution method was used to rank the country’s net performance according to health status and economic indicators. The study uses horizontal data for 2016. Economic data were obtained from the International Monetary Fund, and each of the country’s health status indicators was obtained from the World Health Organization and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Health Data Bank.
Results: Macroeconomic performance ranking results showed that while Ireland performed best, Turkey performed worst among OECD countries. Health status performance ranking results ranked Japan as first and Turkey as last. Additionally, a positive, moderately significant correlation between macroeconomic and health status indicators was obtained.
Conclusion: Currently, especially with aging populations, various problems have arisen in the health status of societies, affecting the general level of health in the society and economic structure. Therefore, health services for the elderly can play a role in improving health status and economic level.
Cite this article as: Özsarı H, Boz C. Comparison of Health Status and Macroeconomic Indicators in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Countries Using Multidimensional Scaling and TOPSIS. Journal of Health Science and Profession 2019; 6(3): 545-54.