The number of people experiencing financial difficulty in Turkey increased dramatically in the first five months of 2024, with households receiving government assistance seeing an increase of nearly 500,000, the Birgün daily reported on Wednesday, citing official data.
Data from the Family and Social Services Ministry showed that the number of households receiving assistance had increased from 3.7 million in January to 4.2 million at the end of May, corresponding to 17,114,912 citizens.
According to Birgün, the government provided financial assistance for electricity consumption to 3.9 million households, for heating costs to 1.5 million households, for food to 49,772 households and for housing to 10,490 households in the first five months of 2024.
The statistics regarding the ministry’s assistance program for households with income below the hunger threshold showed that the number of families receiving assistance, which was 3,099,560 in 2022, increased to 3,479,832 in May.
The hunger threshold, which is defined as the amount of money that a family of four living in Ankara needs to spend for healthy and balanced nourishment, was TL 18,980 ($580) in June, nearly TL 2,000 above the minimum wage of TL 17,002, according to data from the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ).
According to data on General Health Insurance (GSS) premiums paid from the budget for those whose monthly income is below one-third of the gross minimum wage, 9,444,458 people received this assistance in May.
The number of children benefiting from the ministry’s Social and Economic Support Service (SED) since they cannot be cared for due to the poverty of their families and are at risk of being taken away from them, increased from 129,422 in 2020 to 157,248 in 2022, to 264,995 in 2023 and to 170,694 in the first five months of 2024.
Birgün said the main reason for the dramatic surge in the number of Turkish citizens receiving government assistance was the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)’s unsuccessful economic policies.
Over the past several years Turkey 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.
The lira, which lost more than half its value against the dollar in 2021 alone and tumbled 29 percent in 2022 and 26 percent in 2023, has shed another 11.5 percent so far this year. It has been the worst performer in emerging markets for several years running due largely to economic and monetary policy concerns under the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.