Abstract
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EUROPEAN AND CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES FROM THE ECONOMIC DIMENSION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: CLUSTER ANALYSIS AND TOPSIS METHOD
Sustainable development is defined as a development process that moves by creating a balance between the needs of human life and the continuity of natural resources in order to meet today's needs without neglecting to meet the needs of future generations. Sustainable development is generally considered in three dimensions: economic, environmental and social. In this study, economic indicators set by the United Nations for sustainable development were taken into account. On the basis of these indicators, European and Central Asian countries including Turkey have been tried to be evaluated and positioned as relative. In the study, countries were separated into clusters by clustering analysis and the differences between the clusters were statistically tested. Clustering analysis groups objects that are similar to each other into clusters, but does not provide clear information about relative superiority evaluations within or between clusters. TOPSIS- Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution- is used here to complete these deficiencies of the clustering analysis. As a result of the application, clustering and TOPSIS findings were found to be completely consistent with each other, and the opportunity to make more detailed and useful comments emerged.
Keywords
Sustainable Development, Economic Indicators, Clustering Analysis, TOPSIS Method.
