The AKP administration’s economic policies not only cause periodic shocks to the local currency, but exacerbate income inequality, as well. While per capita GDP is reported to be rising steadily each year since the pandemic, surpassing past-pandemic peak, the average household feels poorer, according to a slew of polls. Turkey’s minimum wage is below the poverty line and according to unofficial estimates up to 40% of the active workforce draw wages at or around the minimum wage.
As elsewhere in the world, infants and children bear the burden of widespread impoverishment.
According to a recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a staggering 6.5 million children in Turkey are living in extreme poverty, highlighting the deepening crisis in the country.
The OECD report, which underscores the dire situation for Turkey’s youth, revealed that one in four children in Turkey attend school hungry. The situation has prompted an increase in humanitarian assistance, with more than 171,000 children receiving aid in the first six months of 2024 alone. This marks a steady increase from previous years, with 164,000 children receiving assistance in 2023, 157,248 in 2021, 140,275 in 2020, and just 37,295 in 2012 when the aid programs began.
Turkey, a nation of over 85 million people, now holds one of the highest rates of child poverty among OECD countries. The economic downturn, exacerbated by soaring inflation rates currently at 61.78%, has pushed the poverty line for a family of four to $1,840, while the hunger line stands at $565.
The AKP-MHP coalition rejected several legislative proposals by the opposition to serve free lunch to all schoolchildren, lest it admits to rising poverty.
While indispensable to fighting inflation, the measures introduced by economy czar Mehmet Simsek accelerate poverty, as all austerity programs do. The result has been a steady decrease in AKP’s popularity in all the polls conducted since 31 March local election. Main opposition party CHP is on average 3 points ahead of AKP, which according to Metropoll July survey witnessed its popular support dropping to a 22-year low at around 30%.
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