Social Welfare Assessment in Rural Areas with Emphasis on the Views of Local Residents (Case Study: Kheir Area in the Estahban Township)

Abstract

Rural development is one of the most important processes that is considered in different countries. Rural development needs to recognize the different important components. Social welfare is one of the important components using which enables us to reduce the problems of villages. By this issue we can reduce many problems in rural areas. This study tries to assess and determine the level of social welfare in rural areas of the Kheir area in the Estahban province. The research method that is used is based on descriptive - analysis and field methods (questionnaires and documents). The sample size is 313 persons that reside in twelve villages. The sample size was selected by the Cochran’s model. In order to analyze data, we also used both statistical methods (descriptive and inferential statistics) and TOPSIS and Morris methods. The results show that social welfare varies between villages in case study. This value is between 0.11 – 0.95. Social welfare in the rural areas is higher than the average (0.596). The results also show that there is a significant relationship between social welfare and two criteria: population and services. Also there is a statistically significant indirect relationship between distance from the center of township and social welfare.

Keywords

• Rural Development
• TOPSIS method
• Morris method
• Index