Poverty in Turkey

Turkey made steady progress in reducing poverty from the early 2000s to the mid-2010s.^[1][2]

Definitions

The Turkish Statistical Institute publishes rates of poverty at 40%, 50%, 60% and 70% of median equivalised household disposable income.^[3] UNICEF used the above 60% figure to estimate that over a third of children were poor on average 2019 to 2021.^[4] The World Bank’s poverty line for middle-income countries is $5.50 a day (in 2011 dollars).^[5]

Rate of poverty

The 2023 EU report on the country said "Türkiye still lacks a dedicated poverty reduction strategy. Sustained price increases further posed the risk of poverty for the unemployed and wage labourers in precarious jobs. The poverty rate reached 14.4%, up from 13.8% in 2021. The severe-material-deprivation rate reached 28.4% in 2022 (2021: 27.2%). The child poverty rate for 2022 was particularly high at 41.6%. In 2022, social assistance payments amounted to TRY 151.9 billion, or 1.01% of GDP. Türkiye has fragmented benefits at local and national level, and it still lacks a general minimum income scheme."^[6]

Causes of poverty

• Female labor force participation was estimated by Turkstat as 30.4% in 2022, less than half that of men.^[7] Gender inequalities persist in access to economic opportunities and the female labor participation remains very low.^[8] Turkey ranked 130 out of 145 countries in the Global Gender Gap rankings.^[8] Female participation in the workplace has been increasing as a percentage and are forecasted to increase in a sustained way as Turkey transitions towards a high-income economy.^[8]

• Low productivity in the agriculture sector. Agriculture in Turkey employs about 20% of the working population with a very low^[9] labor productivity, which translates into limited^[10] earnings potential.^[11] While the Turkish agriculture remains the largest producer of hazelnut, cherry and apricot in the world, the average size of farms at 2 ha is very low and discourages investment opportunities.^[11]

• Low national savings rate and low FDI. Having a very low domestic savings rate, Turkey is dependent on capital inflows to finance its structural current account deficit.^[12] Despite its dependence on outside financing, Turkey attracts very little FDI—on average US$12.75 billion per year during 2003–2015.^[12]

• Exposure to natural disasters. Over 2 million Turks and more than 6% of Turkey's GDP are exposed to disasters at any given year—ranking 9th globally^[13] with respect to GDP exposure to earthquakes—because of Turkey's high risk of earthquakes, flooding and forest fires. ^[14]
• Monetary policy. Most economists say that low interest rates in the early 2020s raised inflation.^[5] Poorer people have suffered more inflation.^[15]

Poverty alleviation measures

• Establishment of universal health coverage in 2003.

• Seismic risk reduction program. Turkey pioneered a seismic mitigation and emergency preparedness project that has been a model internationally. The program—which started in 2006—addresses the vulnerability of public buildings through creating development standards and third-party review.^[13]

• Turkey's risk insurance scheme for private property—established in 1999—is considered to be a proactive and world-class example that other countries imitate.^[16] However, the insurance program does not have differentiating tariffs that could provide incentives for disaster-resistant construction.^[16]
• Islamic charity.^[17]

Gecekondu in the city of Samsun: poor people may be exposed to more air pollution in Turkey^[18][19]

See also

Refugees of the Syrian civil war in Turkey