Turkey ranks first in Europe for income inequality

The DİSK Research Center (DİSK-AR) has released a report on income inequality by income group, employment status, and gender for 2022, following the release of the 2023 income distribution statistics by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) today.

The report, which states that Turkey ranks first among EU countries in income inequality, noted: "Between 2005 and 2022, average household per capita income increased by 984 percent for daily wage earners and 1053 percent for the self-employed. The average household per capita income of employers increased by 1219.7 percent between 2005 and 2022, rising from 20,403 TL to 408,174 TL."

The report also highlighted the gender income gap, stating that in 2022, male daily wage earners earned 78.5 percent more income than women.

TÜİK published its income distribution statistics for 2023 today. According to the results, the share of total income received by the top 20 percent with the highest equivalized household disposable income increased by 1.8 points compared to the previous year, reaching 49.8 percent, while the share received by the bottom 20 percent with the lowest income decreased by 0.1 points to 5.9 percent.

Following the TÜİK announcement, DİSK-AR published a report on income inequality in 2022 by income group, employment status, and gender. The report stated that, according to TÜİK Income Distribution Statistics, as of 2022, the household disposable income of the richest 5 percent (4.3 million people) in Turkey was 31 times the per capita income of the poorest 5 percent (4.3 million people).

The report noted that the total income share of the richest 5 percent, which was 25 percent in 2005, reached 30.8 percent in 2022, while the share of the poorest 5 percent remained unchanged. It was noted that the ratio of the income of the richest 5 percent to the poorest group, which was 25 times in 2005, increased by 5.8 points to 30.8 times in 2022, reaching its highest level since 2005.

DİSK members held a protest in Istanbul demanding tax justice. Confederation President Arzu Çerkezoğlu said, "We are calling for a fair tax system where those who earn less pay less and those who earn more pay more, and for our 5-point legislative proposal to be passed unanimously by Parliament, not just for the sake of it."

TURKEY IS FIRST IN EUROPE

The report included the following findings:

"The Gini coefficient, one of the methods for measuring income inequality, is an important indicator of income distribution in a country. The Gini coefficient is one of the methods used to measure income distribution in countries. The Gini coefficient is a value between 0 and 1; as the coefficient approaches 1, income distribution worsens, and as it approaches 0, income distribution improves. While 0 means absolute equality (everyone receives a share), 1 means absolute income inequality (all income is earned by a single person). The Gini coefficient generally ranges between 0.200 and 0.500.

In 2022, the Gini coefficient was 0.433. Thus, the Gini coefficient rose to its highest level in the last 12 years.

When compared with EU countries, Turkey is the country with the highest income inequality. According to data published by the European Union (EU) Statistical Office (Eurostat), the average Gini coefficient for the 27 EU member states was 0.296 as of 2022. The country with the lowest Gini coefficient among EU countries is Slovakia with 0.212. The top five countries with the highest income inequality among EU countries are Turkey (0.433), Bulgaria (0.384), Lithuania (0.362), Latvia (0.343), and Italy (0.327). Turkey ranks first in income inequality with a Gini coefficient of 0.433 in 2022.

EMPLOYER INCOME INCREASED BY 1220 PERCENT

When looking at the income of household members in Turkey according to their status in their main job, it is seen that employer incomes have increased much faster. In the period between 2005 and 2022, the income earned by household members from their main jobs rose from 8,754 TL to 116,297 TL. Thus, the average household per capita income increased by 821.4 percent. The average household per capita income of wage earners increased by 689.9 percent between 2005 and 2022, rising from 9,069 TL to 102,821 TL. The average per capita income of daily wage earners rose from 3,289 TL to 53,334 TL in the same period, and that of the self-employed rose from 7,002 TL to 115,622 TL. Thus, between 2005 and 2022, average household per capita income increased by 984 percent for daily wage earners and 1053 percent for the self-employed.

The average household per capita income of employers increased by 1,219.7 percent between 2005 and 2022, rising from 20,403 TL to 408,174 TL.

GENDER INCOME GAP

When looking at average household per capita income by gender, it is seen that there are significant differences between women and men. In 2005, women's average household per capita income was 26.3 percent less than the average per capita income, while men's was 6.2 percent higher. By 2022, while men's average per capita income was 8 percent above the total average income, women's was still 21.2 percent below the average. While women earn below-average incomes, men's incomes are above average.

The difference between the incomes of women and men can also be seen by comparing the incomes. In 2005, men's average household per capita income was 44.1 percent higher than women's. Although the average per capita incomes of men and women showed a tendency to converge until 2016, the gap increased rapidly thereafter, reaching 37.1 percent in 2022.

The difference between the per capita incomes of men and women by employment status is even more striking. In 2022, male daily wage earners earned 78.5 percent more income than women. This rate was calculated as 45.3 percent for employers, 24.9 percent for the self-employed, and 21.9 percent for wage earners."