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Turkish households needed a minimum of ₺28,412 ($675.7) in October to cover the essential food expenses of a family of four — known as the "hunger threshold" — the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Turk-Is) reported on Friday.
Thus, the share of the hunger threshold that a single minimum wage of ₺22,104 fails to cover rose to 22.2%.
The poverty line—the minimum monthly income a four-person household needs to afford not only food but also essential expenses such as housing, transportation, clothing, education and healthcare to maintain a basic standard of living—rose to ₺92,547 ($2,200.9), exceeding four times the minimum wage.
The monthly cost of living for a single worker was calculated at ₺36,984.
Accordingly, food prices rose by 1.58% from September and 39.06% from a year earlier. The twelve-month average increase reached 40.22%, indicating continued pressure on household budgets.
Türkiye’s headline inflation rate rose to 33.3% in September, driven partly by a 36% annual surge in food prices.
In Istanbul, the country’s and Europe’s largest city, the average cost of living for a four-person family climbed to ₺102,045 ($2,425), marking a 42.86% increase from the same month last year, according to the Istanbul Planning Agency.
The city’s inflation rate also remained above the national average, with the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) reporting monthly inflation at 3.19% and annual inflation at 40.75%.
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