A family of four in Turkey now needs 105,425 Turkish lira ($2,399) a month to cover basic expenses such as food, housing, transportation, education and healthcare, according to data released Friday by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ).
The confederation said the hunger threshold, the minimum monthly cost of food for a family to maintain a healthy and balanced diet, rose to 32,365 lira ($736) in February, exceeding the net monthly minimum wage of about 28,075 lira by roughly 15 percent.
TÜRK-İŞ said the monthly cost of living for a single worker has climbed to 41,900 lira ($953), far above the minimum wage.
The union confederation said “kitchen inflation,” its measure of food price increases, rose 3.65 percent in February from the previous month. It said the 12-month increase in food costs reached 38.76 percent and that the annual average rise was 39.43 percent. Food spending was up 7.37 percent in the first two months of 2026, it said.
TÜRK-İŞ has published the hunger and poverty thresholds monthly for decades, using Ankara as a reference point to track changes in the cost of food and other necessities for workers’ households.
Economists and labor groups say the gap between wages and living costs has left many households relying on multiple incomes, informal work or family support to meet basic needs, as food prices and rent remain a central pressure point in daily budgets.
Turkey has struggled with high inflation in recent years, along with unemployment and a weakening currency, eroding purchasing power for wage earners.
Presidebt Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is criticized for mishandling the economy, emptying the state’s coffers and establishing one-man rule in the country, where dissent is suppressed and opponents are jailed on politically motivated charges.
