Measuring and Rating Socioeconomic Disparities among Provinces: A Case of Turkiye

Regional disparities in the economic and social structures of countries have a great impact on their development levels. In geographically, culturally and economically diverse countries like Turkiye, determining the socioeconomic status of the provinces and regional differences is an important step for planning and implementing effective policies. Therefore, this study aims to determine the socioeconomic disparities of the provinces in Turkiye. For this purpose, a socioeconomic development index covering the economic and social dimensions of 81 provinces was constructed. For the index, 16 different indicators representing economic and social factors were used. These indicators were converted into indices using the Min-Max normalization method and Principal Component Analysis. Afterwards, using these indices, the provinces were divided into groups using the K-Means clustering algorithm and the Elbow method. In the last part of the study, the results are presented in a visual format using Scatter Plots, clustering maps and QGIS mapping tools. The results of the study show that 2 of the 81 provinces in Turkiye have very high, 30 high, 25 medium and 24 low socioeconomic indices. Istanbul and Ankara have very high socioeconomic status. In general, the provinces in western Turkiye have a high socioeconomic index, while the provinces in eastern and southeastern Anatolia face serious challenges in terms of socioeconomic indicators.