This study employs a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach based on the Entropy and TOPSIS methods to objectively evaluate the relative performance of the healthcare systems of nine European Union candidate and potential candidate countries. The analysis includes Türkiye, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine.

The performance comparison is based on six key criteria: life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, number of physicians per capita, number of hospital beds per capita, health expenditure as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (DTP3) vaccination coverage rate. The objective weighting of the criteria was determined using the Entropy method, which measures uncertainty. Subsequently, the performance ranking of the countries was established using the TOPSIS technique, which assesses alternatives based on their relative closeness to the ideal solution.

According to the findings, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia stand out as the countries with the highest-performing healthcare systems. In contrast, Türkiye ranks as the second-lowest performing country, just above Moldova. These results highlight significant improvement needs in Türkiye’s healthcare system, particularly in service quality and human resources. The study provides a valuable contribution to the development of evidence-based recommendations for restructuring health policies in these countries.