Health Indicators in the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Countries: Ranking and Evaluating the Status of Iran

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to compare the health status of Iran with that of the the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Countries countries in terms of various health indicators. Methods: The data from 27 health indicators were collected in 2023 from WHO, EMRO, and the World Bank and then grouped into five categories: mortality and morbidity indicators, nutritional risk factor and non-communicable disease indicators, health financing indicators, maternal and immunization indicators, and health workforce indicators. This study used MEREC, a method that analyzes the effects of deleting criteria, to determine the weighting of the indicators. The countries were then ranked using the MARCOS method, one of the new multi-criteria decision-making methods. Results: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates were in the best situation. Iran ranked 8th, 6th, 7th, 4th, and 13th in the first to fifth categories mentioned in the methods. Iran also ranked 10th among the countries in the region in the overall ranking of all these indicators. Conclusion: Many researchers and policymakers evaluate the health status in Iran based on the introduced health indicators. Iran needs to intensify its efforts to strengthen its position in the Eastern Mediterranean region, considering its overall circumstances.