The richest 20 percent of income earners comprised 46.7 percent of Turkey’s gross income, while the poorest 20 percent earned only 5.8 percent, a Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) survey on income and living conditions revealed. The highest income earners (the top 20 percent) earned 8.1 times more than the lowest income earners (the bottom 20 percent). In rural areas, the numbers were 6.9, compared to 7.5 in urban areas.
According to the TurkStat data, Gini coefficient (a statistical distribution measurement system which calculates the inequality of a distribution) establishes 0 as a measure of maximum equality and 1 a measure of maximum inequality. In 2008, Gini coefficient in Turkey was calculated at 0.41, same as that in 2007. In rural areas, the measurement was worse still, where Gini coefficient was 0.38 and 0.4 in urban areas.
The average annual disposable income was TL 19,328, while the average annual equivalized household disposable income, which is calculated by dividing the household’s total disposable income by the number of household members, amounted to TL 8,372. This figure was the very highest at TL 11,881 Istanbul, regarded by most as Turkey’s economic powerhouse. The eastern Marmara region followed with TL 9,852, while the lowest figures emerged from southeastern Anatolian, where the annual equivalized household disposable income was only TL 4,193 -- one-third of that in İstanbul.
According to these statistics, approximately 16.7 percent of the population in 2008 was living below the poverty line; the figure was 15.2 percent in urban areas and 14.2 percent in rural areas.
The majority of income earners in Turkey were making monthly wages or salaries the report shows. A total of 41.9 percent of all income was made by this group, a 2.1 percent increase from 2007 figures. Entrepreneurs made 22.4 percent of the income.
