DEFINING AND DEVELOPING A RURALITY INDEX FOR TURKEY

Correctly defining the term “rural” and determining the rurality level of provinces/regions are very important for an effective regional/rural planning. A well-defined and consistent rurality index will be useful in putting forward the current rurality level of regions and in implementing appropriate rural development policies. In this study, a rurality index was developed, and the rurality level was calculated at provincial level in Turkey. As Multi-Criteria Decision-Making techniques, Entropy and TOPSIS methods were used in the study. Eighteen variables were used under four sections, which are: (1) demographic, (2) economic, (3) agriculture and livestock activities, and (4) urbanization and infrastructure. Provinces were ranked and divided into five categories according to their rurality level and a rurality map was created for Turkey. It is also expected that the results would be useful for policy makers.