Determining Pandemic Vulnerability Levels of Cities Using the Factor Analysis Method

Abstract

Pandemics have reentered our lives with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and the outbreak has affected all humanity on a global scale. Just as some countries in the world are more affected by this pandemic than others, although the number of cases and deaths is critically high in some cities in Turkey, others cities are less affected. This study aims to measure Turkish cities vulnerability levels to the pandemic based on variables that are likely to be influence a difference in the number of cases that emerge. A literature survey shows that similar studies in Turkey in particular are generally built on just one of the social, economic, and spatial vulnerability indices. No holistic approach has been found that combines all the relevant factors. This study uses 35 different variables gathered under the indicators of population, demography, urban life, economy, climate, environment and health, as identified at the end of the literature review. As a result, each city's Pandemic Vulnerability Index score was calculated using factor analysis, and a hierarchical ranking was carried out among Turkish cities going from the most to the least vulnerable.