Data released by a major labor union in Turkey on Tuesday showed the poverty line, which refers to the amount a family of four needs to live without feeling deprived of food and the money required to pay other expenses such as rent and utilities, to be TL 47,009 ($1,594) in December.
The hunger line, which refers to the amount a family of four has to spend on basic food expenses, was TL 14,431 ($490) in December, according to Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş) figures.
The poverty line is determined based on various factors including the cost of education, health, housing, heating and transportation, representing the necessary expenditures a family incurs to avoid deprivation.
This latest data from Türk-İş represents an increase from November’s figures, where the hunger and poverty lines were documented by the union at TL 14,025 ($475) and TL 45,686 ($1,549), respectively.
The labor minister announced this week that Turkey’s monthly minimum wage will be 17,002 Turkish lira ($578.31) in 2024, marking a 49 percent increase from July and a 100 percent hike from January. About a third of the population of 86 million people earn the minimum wage, and other salary raises are determined by the base pay.
Higher wages are feared to contribute to pushing up inflation, which reached an annual rate of 61.98 percent in November.
Inflation soared after a currency crisis at the end of 2021 and touched a 24-year peak of 85.51 percent in October of last year. This year, the lira has so far lost some 35 percent of its value, compounding the cost-of-living crisis for Turks.
Over the past several years the country has been suffering from a deteriorating economy, with high inflation and unemployment, as well as a poor human rights record. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is criticized for mishandling the economy, emptying the state’s coffers and establishing one-man rule in the country where dissent is suppressed and opponents are jailed on politically motivated charges.
Turkey is scheduled to hold local elections on March 31. Erdoğan has vowed to retake control of İstanbul, the country’s biggest city, and the capital Ankara from the opposition, building on the momentum of his re-election in May, when he began his third decade at the helm.