Turkey has been ranked 40th on a list of 41 EU and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in a social justice index prepared by Germany’s Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation for the year 2019.
The Social Justice Index (SJI) is published annually by Bertelsmann Stiftung and examines social justice in 41 countries in the EU and OECD countries. The study analyzes 46 criteria grouped into six categories: poverty prevention, labor market, education, health, non-discrimination and intergenerational justice.
According to the index the poverty risk in Turkey has been reduced from 17.5 percent to 14.9 percent since the 2009 SJI but remains high in comparison to other countries.
Turkey has been experiencing economic problems in recent years. The country’s unemployment rate rose to 14.0 percent in the July-September period from 13.9 percent a month earlier, with youth unemployment hitting a record high of 27.4 percent as a recession continued to hit workers.
A currency crisis last year depressed economic activity and weakened the jobs market. The currency crisis, when the Turkish lira lost nearly 30 percent of its value against the dollar, sent unemployment to a near-decade high of 14.7 percent in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are the five best performing countries on the SJI, while Chile, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Mexico are the bottom five.