How vulnerable are high-income countries to the covid-19 pandemic? An MCDM approach

Abstract

This paper tries to determine the most vulnerable points of high–income countries during the Covid-19 pandemic in an MCDM setting. For this aim, we use the entropy method to obtain criteria weights and the PIV method for the comparisons. We employ a wide range of criteria that account for political, demographic, capacity, and Covid-19 indicators including vaccination. Our sample consists of 40 HICs. The results reveal that countries with less equitable healthcare systems and with more vaccine hesitancy are more vulnerable to Covid-19. Hospital bed capacity, a strict government policy, and a lower percentage of the population who smoke add to the success of countries in this combat. We compare our findings with SAW and MAUT techniques as well and obtain very similar rankings. Therefore, we conclude that the PIV method can be used for national performance evaluations with a reduced rank reversal problem and computational simplicity.