Islamicity Indices: An Application for Regions in Türkiye

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine whether Islamicity indices can be applied at the subnational level by analyzing regional variation across Türkiye's 26 NUTS-2 regions during 2015-2020.Design/methodology/approach Islamicity scores were constructed through min-max normalization and equal weighting across economic, legal-governance and human-political rights dimensions, then analyzed with panel-data models and robust standard errors.Findings Significant regional disparities emerged: Istanbul and Ankara ranked highest, while eastern and southeastern regions ranked lowest. Gender equality, living conditions and health were the strongest positive correlates of index scores.Research limitations/implications The analysis is limited to 2015-2020 and secondary quantitative data, restricting long-run observation and leaving underlying causal processes to future qualitative work.Practical implications Results support region-specific policy prioritization in gender equality, health, education and living conditions, especially in persistently low-scoring regions.Social implications The findings show that the index captures institutional and socio-economic outcomes rather than personal religiosity, helping reframe debates on justice and regional inequality.Originality/value This study extends the Islamicity indices literature beyond cross-country comparisons by offering one of the first subnational applications based on a regional panel for Turkey.