The number of people aged 60 and over seeking work in Turkey rose 19 percent in the first 11 months of 2025, as growing numbers of retirees struggle to survive on meager pensions, Turkish Minute reported, citing the Nefes daily.
Data from the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) show that the number of female job seekers in this age group increased 17 percent, while the figure for men rose 19.6 percent between January and November.
Turkey’s minimum pension stands at 16,881 Turkish lira, about $396, a level widely criticized as insufficient to meet basic living costs. A six-month inflation adjustment will be finalized after the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) releases December data on Jan. 5. Officials project the minimum pension will rise to between 18,000 and 19,000 lira.
Some older people are also unable to retire despite reaching retirement age because they lack sufficient social security contributions. İŞKUR data show that 9,543 people aged 60 and over applied for unemployment benefits between January and October, with 55.4 percent of them qualifying.
Retirees interviewed by Nefes said their pensions no longer cover basic needs.
İsmet Çelebioğlu, 68, said his monthly pension of 19,000 lira is largely consumed by rent of 11,000 lira. After receiving no response from İŞKUR, he began working at a tobacco shop for 1,000 lira a day, six days a week.
“We will die while working. They are condemning us to death,” Çelebioğlu said.
Kadriye Yılmaz, 62, a retired teacher with 38 years of service, said she has been applying to İŞKUR for six months without success. “I go around supermarkets looking for discounts. I can’t buy gifts for my grandchild. I never imagined retirement would be like this,” she said.
Kemal Can, 69, a retired construction worker receiving the minimum pension, pays 15,000 lira in rent. After eight unsuccessful applications to İŞKUR, he now works informal construction jobs.
“The pension alone does not even cover the rent. In the past, retirees could buy a house and a car. Now you cannot even buy a tire,” Can said.
Retirees also argue that pension increases fail to reflect real living costs because they are tied to TurkStat’s widely disputed inflation data.
“We receive low pensions because of TurkStat’s inflation calculation. We do not want to live below the poverty line. We do not deserve this,” Yılmaz said.
TurkStat announced this week that it will revise its Consumer Price Index methodology starting January 2026 to align with European Union standards. Under the new system, “imputed rent,” which estimates the rental value of owner-occupied or rent-free housing, will be excluded.
Critics argue the change will further widen the gap between official inflation and the real cost of living, especially in Turkey, where housing, food and transportation account for 65.7 percent of household spending, compared with 49.5 percent in the EU.
TurkStat has faced long criticism over transparency and stopped publishing detailed inflation basket data in June 2022, saying prices were being misinterpreted.
If the revised methodology results in lower official inflation, retirees whose pensions are indexed to inflation could see smaller increases, deepening financial hardship among senior citizens.
