Abstract
Poverty in Turkey has declined significantly between 2003 and 2006, as a result of rapid poverty reduction in urban areas. In the same time period, the reduction in poverty in rural areas has been slow or non-existent. As a result, the relative risk of poverty has increased in this time period for those employed in agricultural sector, living in rural areas and in large households. Inequality in urban areas has decreased as a result of high growth in the consumption levels of the urban poor compared to richer deciles, while no significant changes to inequality measures have been noted in rural areas. In fact, the consumption levels of poorest groups in rural Turkey have declined between 2003 and 2006. Child poverty has also been persistent in this time period, with the relative risk of poverty for children (ages0-19) increasing over time.
Highlights
The poverty gap (P1), often considered as representing the depth of poverty, is the mean distance separating the poor population from the poverty line, and has come down from 7.3 to 5.4 from 2003 to 2006
Turkey has done well in recent years in terms of aggregate poverty reduction and inequality has fallen as a result of both growth and redistribution in consumption
The urban poor have experienced increases in their consumption levels at a level of around 9% in real terms while the urban elite has experienced little growth in their welfare aggregates. This has resulted in a significant reduction in the consumption Gini in urban areas this time period from 33.4 to 28.5
Summary
By looking at changes in inequality and consumption patterns, the paper aims to analyze who has benefited most from the recent rapid changes in poverty reduction in Turkey. In many ways, this diagnostic paper updates the results of the Turkey Joint Poverty Assessment report which was carried out using data from 2001, in terms of the profiles of the poor and provides more detailed analysis on relative changes in welfare.
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