A New Criterion Weighting in Ranking Studies: European Next Generation Liveable Countries Ranking

Abstract

Criterion weighting is frequently used in ranking studies and multi-criteria decision-making problems where the power of the weights represents the important role of a variable. Variables with excessive weight may directly affect the ranking or selection results. In this study, a new criterion weighting method (Effect of Coefficient of Variation) based on the coefficient of variation is proposed. It is thought that the proposed method will give more balanced results, especially in the weighting of the variables with outliers. The proposed method was applied under the title of the new generation liveability index and the liveability ranking of European countries was determined. According to the ranking, Northern European countries occupy the first five places and the countries that left the former USSR and Yugoslavia occupy the last places.