Investigating the Effect of Economic and Social Factors on the Spread of Covid-19 Epidemic in the World by Factor Analysis Method

Comprehensive identification of the factors explaining the prevalence of Covid-19 is essential. The purpose of this study was is to evaluate the socio-economic variables affecting the prevalence of Covid-19 within countries around the world.

This research has been conducted in three steps. In the first step, by analyzing the theoretical literature, 43 primary variables affecting the pandemic were identified. In the second step, using exploratory factor analysis method, the identified variables were aggregated into the components of individual-social health indicators, macroeconomics, political economy indicators, government economic status, human-social capital, access to information technology and population structure. In the third step, using stepwise regression method, the main factors explaining the prevalence of covid-19 for 94 selected countries were evaluated.

In the socio-economic field, variables including inflation, corruption index, GDP per capita, government spending status, human rights index and economic freedom are effective, respectively. On the other hand, the evaluation of the effect of identified factors on Covid-19 using stepwise regression method confirms that the variables of government spending, unhealthy climate, and social-human capital have explanatory roles, respectively. Finally, the number of deaths per infection depends on two variables as overweight and heart problems.

The effect of individual-social health components on the prevalence of Covid-19 emphasizes that governments have an important role in managing health facilities. On the other hand, given that inflation, GDP per capita and government spending have the highest rate of explanation in the prevalence of the Covid-19, the need for economic policy in controlling the corona is highlighted.