An international social inclusion index with application in the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development countries

Abstract

No efforts have been made yet to develop a comprehensive social inclusion index for all countries. We propose an international social inclusion index based on eight dimensions. Using this index, we analyze the data available on 16 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. This task was accomplished using Shannon Entropy (SE) for weight determination and the Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) technique for country ranking. The results indicate that the top five countries that correctly employed the concept of social inclusion in their societies in 2014 and 2015 are Norway, followed by Ireland, France, Spain, and Sweden. However, the least-performing nation is Latvia in both studied years. Additionally, the findings emphasize that enrolling children in school, accessing broadband connection, fighting corruption in the public sector, being employed, attaining high GDP growth, decreasing homicide rate, and managing non-made imperfections that may lead to injuries or mortalities are vital elements for the creation of a more inclusive society.