Turkey made steady progress in reducing poverty from the early 2000s to the mid-2010s.^[3][4]

Definitions

The Turkish Statistical Institute publishes rates of poverty at 40%, 50%, 60% and 70% of median equivalised household disposable income.^[5] The World Bank’s poverty line for middle-income countries is $5.50 a day (in 2011 dollars).^[6]

Causes of poverty

• Low female labor force participation. Gender inequalities persist in access to economic opportunities and the female labor participation remains very low.^[7] Turkey ranked 130 out of 145 countries in the Global Gender Gap rankings.^[7] 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.^[7]

• Low productivity in the agriculture sector. Agriculture in Turkey employs about 20% of the working population with a very low^[8] labor productivity, which translates into limited^[9] earnings potential.^[10] 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.^[10]

• 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.^[11] Despite its dependence on outside financing, Turkey attracts very little FDI—on average US$12.75 billion per year during 2003–2015.^[11]

• 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^[12] with respect to GDP exposure to earthquakes—because of Turkey's high risk of earthquakes, flooding and forest fires. ^[13]
• Monetary policy. Most economists say that low interest rates in the early 2020s raised inflation.^[6] Poorer people have suffered more inflation.^[14]

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.^[12]

• 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.^[15] However, the insurance program does not have differentiating tariffs that could provide incentives for disaster-resistant construction.^[15]
• Islamic charity.^[16]