TÜRK-İŞ Announces August 2025 Hunger and Poverty Line

ANKARA - The Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ) has shared with the public the August 2025 results of its monthly hunger and poverty line survey. According to the report, which shows that the increase in food prices continues to strain household budgets, the hunger limit for a family of four has exceeded 27 thousand TL and the poverty limit has exceeded 88 thousand TL. These data once again revealed the economic difficulties of millions of laborers and pensioners.

August Inflation and Basic Expenditure Amounts

TÜRK-İŞ's survey also highlighted the rise in kitchen inflation. According to the report, kitchen inflation was calculated as 2.64 percent on a monthly basis, while the last twelve-month increase was 40.68 percent and the annual average increase was 41.46 percent.

The basic expenditure amounts determined in line with these inflation rates are as follows:

• The hunger threshold, which is the amount of monthly food expenditure that a family of four should make in order to have a healthy, balanced and sufficient diet, was 27.111 TL.

• The poverty line, which is the sum of compulsory expenses such as clothing, housing, transportation, education and health in addition to food expenditures, reached 88,310 TL.

• The monthly cost of living for a single employee was determined as 34,981 TL.

Minimum Wage Insufficient, Borrowing Increases

The most striking finding of the research was the size of the gap between the cost of living and the minimum wage. According to August 2025 data, the difference between the monthly cost of living of an employee and the minimum wage increased to 12,877 TL.

TÜRK-İŞ emphasized in its report that the minimum wage is getting further and further away from being an income that can meet the basic needs of low-income citizens. It was stated that the monthly incomes of millions of fixed-income workers and pensioners remained at or below the minimum wage level, and this situation pushed citizens to borrow to meet their needs.

The confederation stated that in order to reduce poverty and improve the purchasing power of workers, an income level "worthy of human dignity" should be set and wage increases should be above inflation, not just at the rate of inflation.