Abstract

It is known that health care resources and expenditures are limited in middle income countries compared to those with developed countries. However these countries usually compared in terms of health care expenditures with OECD countries. It is mentioned in the literature that, in comparisons to be made based on health expenditures for middle income countries, these countries should be compared within groups to be formed according to similar properties within themselves rather than being compared based on developed countries such as OECD countries. Due to this requirement, in this study it was aimed at making groups in terms of variables considered to be affecting health expenditures using WHO and WB data for middle income countries. As a result of hierarchical cluster analysis, it was seen that two groups representing a total of 95 countries were formed. Analysis results indicated that within middle income countries, countries located in Eastern and Western Asia which were in a higher income group were included in the first cluster and countries in Southern Africa and Southern Asia which were in a lower income group were included in the second cluster. According to study results, it could be said that the formed country clusters were similar to the classification made by World Bank according to the income levels of the countries. Study results provided beneficial information about the comparison of middle income countries indicating heterogeneous characteristics in terms of variables affecting health expenditures.

Key words: Health expenditures, middle income countries, cluster analysis

Article Language: Turkish English