Satisfaction with COVID-19 measures and financial expectations in Turkey

Abstract

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, many countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) began to take urgent measures to control the disease and its effects. This article explains and evaluates satisfaction with the measures taken by Turkey and WHO against COVID-19 and the impact of the pandemic on financial prospects. The level of satisfaction and financial expectations of Turkish citizens towards COVID-19 were compared with Chi-square analysis in terms of age, gender, education, social class, and occupations. According to the results of the analysis among Turkish citizens, individuals over the age of 56 and those in the middle class differ significantly from others in terms of satisfaction with the measures taken by the government. In terms of satisfaction with the measures taken by WHO, the middle class, high school graduates, and skilled workers aged 26–35 are proportionally more satisfied than others. Moreover, the difference in these categories was statistically significant (p<0.05). Categories of gender, social class, and occupation show statistically significant differences in terms of those who expect a serious impact of Сovid-19 on the personal financial situation of individuals. Among those who think that the country's economy will be seriously affected, education, social class, and occupation categories show statistically significant differences (p<0.05). Turkey has taken many radical economic, administrative, and legal measures, especially in the field of health, to combat COVID-19. While the measures taken by the government were received with general approval, satisfaction with the measures taken by the World Health Organization was found to be lower. The expectation is high that COVID-19 will have a serious financial impact, however, statistically significant differences were found between social classes in the analysis in terms of both satisfaction and financial expectations (p<0.05).