More than 14 million people in Turkey rely on regular social assistance to survive, and nearly 12 million of them live in extreme poverty, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Family and Social Services, Turkish Minute reported.
The ministry’s mid-year report for January–June 2025 shows that the Turkey Family Support Program, launched in 2022 to lift households above the extreme poverty threshold, reached 2,969,483 households. Based on Turkish Statistical Institute estimates of four people per household, that amounts to 11,879,132 individuals.
Child welfare concerns
Official figures show a steady rise in the number of children facing removal from their families due to financial hardship. The total has increased from 122,489 in 2018 to 171,895 as of June 2025. Ministry records show the progression: 129,422 in 2020, 157,248 in 2022 and 170,317 in 2024. In the first half of 2025, ministry teams visiting schools identified 64,158 children as socioeconomically at risk.
Data released earlier this year by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) estimates that 7.1 million children in Turkey live in households classified as poor under the OECD definition, which sets the poverty line at 60 percent of the national median income adjusted for household size, corresponding to 32 percent of children. Using the European Union’s methodology, which includes broader household measures, the figure rises to 34.2 percent, nearly double the EU average of 19.3 percent.
When refugee children are included, the number increases to 8.3 million. Alternative methods that assess absolute poverty or household expenditures place the total above 10 million.
Energy and housing hardship
Rising energy costs and inadequate housing are adding to the strain on low-income families. Between January and June 2025, 3,461,452 households, about 13.8 million people, received government electricity subsidies, and 669,653 households received support to pay their gas bills. The number of households receiving financial support for electricity bills has grown from 1,343,109 in 2019 to 3,461,000 in the first half of 2025. Inspectors deemed 10,888 homes “uninhabitable” due to age, disrepair and safety hazards.
Nermin Yıldırım Kara, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) representing Hatay, told the Nefes newspaper that the ministry’s data shows the dire conditions many citizens face. “The year 2025, declared the ‘Year of the Family’ by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, has gone down in history as the year of poverty,” she said.
The Turkish government declared 2025 the Year of the Family, with the Ministry of Family and Social Services organizing events throughout the year to promote traditional family values and child welfare, while critics say the campaign ignores the country’s deepening poverty and social inequality.
“If today there are 3,461,000 households unable to pay their electricity bills without assistance, this is an indicator of deep poverty. Increases in electricity and natural gas prices will cause even greater hardship this winter,” Kara added.
Turkey has experienced double-digit inflation since 2019, with the annual rate peaking at 85.5 percent in October 2022. It has since declined and currently stands at around 34 percent, but high prices continue to make it increasingly difficult for Turks to meet basic needs for food, rent and paying bills.
