90 THOUSAND LIRA NIGHTMARE: The Hunger Limit Exceeded the Minimum Wage by 33% and reached 30 Thousand Lira!

According to the United Public-Is Confederation's September 2025 survey, the poverty line for a family of four reached 89,856 TL and 90 thousand TL, while the hunger line was 29,390 TL. The minimum wage has fallen 7,286 TL below the hunger threshold, leaving families unable to cover even basic food expenditures.

September 26, 2025 - ANKARA - The high inflation and cost of living in the Turkish economy have once again been exposed by the September 2025 Hunger-Poverty Survey published by KAMU-AR, the R&D unit of the United Public-Is Confederation (Birleşik Kamu-İş). The data revealed that the struggle for livelihood of a wide range of people, from metal workers to civil servants, from pensioners to minimum wage earners, is alarming.

Poverty Line at 90 Thousand Lira Threshold!

The poverty line, which shows the total expenditure that a family of four needs to make in order to live humanely without feeling deprived, climbed to 89,856 TL as of September 2025 and touched the 90 thousand TL threshold. This figure showed a record increase of 1,946 TL compared to the previous month and a record increase of 23,983 TL in the last year.

The starvation threshold, which is necessary for a family of four to just eat a balanced and healthy diet, increased by 946 TL in September to 29,390 TL.

Minimum Wage Not Enough for Hunger

The most striking results of the research were the ratio of wages to the hunger limit. The net minimum wage, which was applied as 22 thousand 104 liras for the whole of 2025, rose 7 thousand 286 liras above the starvation limit as of September.

• Minimum Wage-Hunger Gap: The minimum wage needs to be increased by at least 33% to reach the hunger threshold.

• Poverty Gap: The minimum wage barely covers a quarter of the poverty line (about 25%). This shows that even if four people in a family work for the minimum wage, the total household income remains below the poverty line.

The same is true for pensioners. The lowest pension, which is applied as 16 thousand 881 liras for the second half of the year, is only enough for the family's 17-day nutrition expenditure.

Employee Salaries Far from Poverty Line

The inadequacy of the government's wage hikes is also evident in civil servant salaries.

• Lowest Civil Servant Salary (50,534 TL): Only 56.2% of the poverty line. In order to reach the poverty line, an increase of 77.8% is required.

• Average Civil Servant Salary (57,310 TL): Meets 64% of the poverty line. It should be increased by 56.8% to reach the poverty line.

Record Increases in Food and Non-Food Expenditures

The rise in the poverty line was driven by exorbitant increases in food expenditures, as well as in essential expenditure groups such as lodging, transportation and household goods.

Food Expenditures (Hunger Limit):

Non-Food Expenditures:

In September, expenditures for non-food items increased by 1,000 TRY to 60,466 TRY. The astronomical price increases in Housing (17,735 TL), Transportation (16,614 TL) and Household Goods (7,056 TL) were the main drivers of this increase.

In its statement, the United Public Labor Confederation warned that this situation, which leads to the erosion of household incomes, will further disrupt social and economic balances unless urgent wage adjustments are made.