1.3 trillion liras spent on social protection in 2022
In Turkey, social protection expenditures reached 1 trillion 257 billion 763 million liras in 2022, an increase of 59.6 percent compared to the previous year, with the largest portion of aid going to retirees/the elderly.
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The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has published the Social Protection Statistics for 2022.
Accordingly, social protection expenditure increased by 59.6 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, reaching 1 trillion 257 billion 763 million liras. Social protection benefits accounted for 98.4 percent of this expenditure, corresponding to 1 trillion 237 billion 645 million liras. Within social protection benefits, the largest expenditure was for retirees/the elderly, amounting to 565 billion 810 million liras. This was followed by sickness/healthcare expenditures at 387 billion 221 million liras.
The share of social protection expenditures in the gross domestic product (GDP) was 8.4 percent in 2022. The share of social protection benefits in GDP was 8.2 percent. When viewed on the basis of risk/need groups, it was observed that expenditures for retirees/the elderly had the largest share at 3.8 percent. This was followed by sickness/healthcare expenditures at 2.6 percent and survivor/orphan expenditures at 1 percent.
10.7 percent of social protection benefits were provided conditionally. Within conditional benefits, family/child benefits held the largest share at 49.9 percent. This was followed by disability/incapacity benefits at 23.1 percent and sickness/healthcare benefits at 9.9 percent.
63.5 percent of the benefits were provided in cash. Among cash benefits, the largest share was taken by benefits for retirees/the elderly at 71.7 percent. This was followed by survivor/orphan benefits at 18.7 percent and family/child benefits at 3.9 percent.
Government contributions accounted for 41.8 percent of social protection revenues, while employer social contributions accounted for 29 percent, and social contributions made by individuals under protection accounted for 23.7 percent.
The number of people receiving retirement/old-age, survivor/orphan, and disability/incapacity pensions under social protection in Turkey rose from 14 million 624 thousand in 2021 to 14 million 851 thousand in 2022, an increase of 1.6 percent. The number of pension benefits under social protection increased from 15 million 362 thousand in 2021 to 15 million 630 thousand in 2022.