Abstract:

This study aims to analyze the performance of countries in the COVID-19 period. The main motivation of the study is to make a more realistic assessment by taking into account the epidemic information and health system-related features, as well as government precaution (Stringency Index) and economic criteria. In this way, the characteristics of the countries that stand out in the fight against the pandemic were tried to be determined. Within the scope of the study, the CRITIC method, which is widely used and stands out as an objective method, was preferred for weighting the criteria. Country performances were analyzed separately using weighted and unweighted criteria. The Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) method, together with weighted and unweighted criteria, was used to determine country rankings. When the results are examined, it has been observed that the level of economic prosperity and the measures taken against the pandemic has brought countries directly to an advantageous point. Countries with a relatively low level of economic prosperity compared to other countries, unfortunately, ranked lower in the ranking. On the other hand, countries with elderly populations were able to find a place in the lower ranks due to high mortality rates despite their extensive economic opportunities. Although the weighting of the criteria affects the country rankings, there has been no change in the countries in the top two.