Income inequality worsens but poverty declines: TÜİK

ANKARA

Income inequality in Türkiye deteriorated in 2023, despite a reduction in the number of people living in poverty, according to recent data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

The Gini coefficient, a key indicator of income distribution, increased to 0.420, up 0.005 points from the previous year. This marked the most unfavorable figure in the data set, which dates back to 2006.

A coefficient of zero represents perfect equality, while a value of one indicates complete inequality.

The survey said the share of the top 20 percent of earners in total income rose by 0.7 points, reaching 48.7 percent. The lowest 20 percent of earners saw a slight improvement, with their share increasing by 0.1 points to 6.1 percent.

However, the middle-income group saw its share drop to 14.3 percent, the lowest recorded in the dataset.

Entrepreneurial income from agriculture accounted for 20.5 percent of the total, while pensions and widow and orphan benefits made up 88.4 percent of social transfers.

Meanwhile, the overall poverty rate fell by 0.9 points to 13.5 percent in 2023. This decline translates to nearly 700,000 fewer people living below the poverty line, which is defined as 50 percent of the median household income.

Material and social deprivation, which measures the ability to meet basic needs such as housing, food and clothing, also saw improvement.

The rate of deprivation fell from 16.6 percent in 2022 to 14.4 percent in 2023, indicating that fewer households struggled to afford essential goods and services. This measure includes variables such as car ownership, the ability to make unexpected expenses and access to heating and new furniture.

The income data for 2023 reflect households' economic conditions in 2022.