Geographic pattern of welfare distribution and identification of factors affecting it in rural areas of Iran

Having an acceptable level of various components of development is the inalienable right of the hardworking rural community. Nevertheless, researches show that there are many shortcomings regarding the rural community's enjoyment of development components. One of the most important components of development is the availability of welfare variables for the rural community. The aim of the present quantitative and applied research is to investigate and spatially analyze how the rural areas of Iran enjoy in terms of welfare variables. The required data has been collected from the Iranian Statistics Center in 2022. For data analysis, a combined method has been used (combination of findings from decision-making models, cluster analysis technique and geographic information system). In terms of welfare indicators, the research results showed that the three provinces of Alborz, Hormozgan and Bushehr, respectively, with a priority coefficient of 0.492, 0.48134 and 0.4813, they are the most privileged and The three provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan, Lorestan and North Khorasan, They are the weakest provinces of Iran with priority coefficients of 0.052, 0.163 and 0.198 respectively. The results of cluster analysis showed, 11 provinces of Iran have been placed at a relatively developed level, 10 provinces at the level of medium development, 9 provinces at deprived level and The Sistan and Baluchistan province is placed at a very disadvantaged level. The results of the spatial analysis of Iran's provinces in terms of the prosperity index in rural areas showed that, most of the border provinces are in unfavorable conditions compared to the central provinces of Iran. The results of the fitted multivariate regression model showed the Income variable, with a determination coefficient of 0.564 and a beta coefficient of 0.751., is a most key factor affecting the level of well-being in rural areas.