Abstract:

The sizes of human resources for health are the most important indicators which are used to determine the level of health status among countries, regions or provinces. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between health workforce to population ratios and economic development ranking of provinces. The data on economic development ranking of provinces were obtained from          "Socio-Economic Development Ranking of Provinces and Regions "published in 2013 by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Development and "Research on Development Level of Provinces with 2010 and 2012 Data” conducted by Turkey Isbank in 2014. Health workforce to population ratios by provinces were obtained from the official website of Turkish Statistical Institute. The correlation analyzes indicated that, it was highly correlation between the economic development level and number of dentist per 10000 population (r = -0.890 and- -0.792) and number of pharmacist per 10000 population (r = -0.810  and -0.684 ) and moderate correlation between the level of economic development ranking and with the number of physician per 10000 population (r = -0.680 and -0.698). The correlation between nurse to population ratio (r = -0.507 and -0.422) and the levels of development of the province was lower. There was no correlation between number of midwives per 10000 population (r = -0.246 and -0.086) and the economic development ranking of the province. According to these findings, the human resources for health, especially the number of pharmacists, dentists and doctors could be taken into account in the research on the economic development ranking.

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