Pathways to the Middle Class in Turkey : How Have Reducing Poverty and Boosting Shared Prosperity Helped?

Turkey's poverty reduction performance in the 2000s has been remarkably consistent. Extreme and moderate poverty have fallen considerably since 2003. Between 2002 and 2011, extreme poverty fell from 13 percent to 5 percent, while moderate poverty halved from 44 percent to 22 percent (respectively, defined using the World Bank's Europe and Central Asia regional poverty lines of 2.5 and 5 USD/PPP). Most of this poverty reduction (89 percent) has been driven by growth, a performance consistent with most countries in Europe and Central Asia. This is substantially different form the recent performance of other regions, such as Latin America, where redistribution contributed to poverty reduction almost four times more than in Turkey. Turkey has also achieved sustained consumption growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population, even during the years of the world recession. Turkey's performance in poverty reduction and increased shared prosperity has been complemented by the systematic expansion of the middle class by 20 percentage points. This paper analyzes the main drivers of poverty reduction, shared prosperity, and changes in inequality in Turkey from 2002 to 2011. The analysis shows that labor markets, demographics, pensions, and social assistance have played a critical role in this process. It further explores some of the mechanisms that have facilitated these changes.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Azevedo, Joao Pedro, Atamanov, Aziz
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2014-04
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE TERMS, ACCESS TO EDUCATION, ACCESS TO MARKETS, AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT, AGRICULTURAL SECTOR, AVERAGE GROWTH, AVERAGE GROWTH RATE, AVERAGE RATE, AVERAGE WAGES, CARIBBEAN REGION, CHANGES IN POVERTY, CONSUMPTION AGGREGATE, CONSUMPTION GROWTH, CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA, CONSUMPTION POVERTY, COUNTERFACTUAL, CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA, DATA AVAILABILITY, DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES, DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS, DENSITY FUNCTION, DETERMINANTS OF POVERTY, DEVELOPMENT POLICY, DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH, DISADVANTAGED REGIONS, DISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGE, DISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGES, DOMESTIC SAVINGS, DRIVERS OF POVERTY REDUCTION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, ECONOMIC RESEARCH, ECONOMICS, EMPLOYMENT CREATION, EQUAL ACCESS, EQUALIZING IMPACT, EXTERNAL IMBALANCES, EXTREME POVERTY, FAMILY INCOME, FEMALE PARTICIPATION, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, FIXED EFFECTS, GINI COEFFICIENT, GRADUAL INCREASE, GROWTH RATES, HEALTH CARE, HIGH GROWTH, HIGHER INEQUALITY, HOUSEHOLD BUDGET, HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, HOUSEHOLD INCOMES, HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS, HOUSEHOLD PER CAPITA INCOME, HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS, IMPACT ON POVERTY, INCOME, INCOME COMPONENTS, INCOME DISTRIBUTIONS, INCOME GROWTH, INCOME INEQUALITY, INCOME POVERTY, INCOME SHARE, INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES, INEQUALITY, INEQUALITY REDUCTION, INTERGENERATIONAL MOBILITY, JOB CREATION, LABOR FORCE, LABOR MARKET, LABOR MARKETS, LABOR PRODUCTIVITY, LINEAR MODEL, MACROECONOMIC POLICIES, MEAN VALUE, MEASUREMENT ERROR, MIDDLE CLASS, NEGATIVE EFFECT, NEGATIVE GROWTH, NET INCOME, OBSERVED CHANGES, OBSERVED POVERTY REDUCTION, OLD AGE, PER CAPITA GROWTH, POLICY DISCUSSIONS, POLICY RESEARCH, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POOR, POOR PEOPLE, POVERTY ASSESSMENT, POVERTY DYNAMICS, POVERTY ESTIMATES, POVERTY LEVEL, POVERTY LINE, POVERTY LINES, POVERTY MEASURE, POVERTY MEASUREMENT, POVERTY MEASURES, POVERTY OUTCOMES, POVERTY RATE, POVERTY RATES, POVERTY REDUCTION, PRIVATE SECTOR, PRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL, PUBLIC SERVICE, RAPID GROWTH, REDUCING POVERTY, REGIONAL DATA, REGIONAL POVERTY, REGIONAL POVERTY LINES, REGIONAL PRICE, REGIONAL PRICE DIFFERENCES, RELATIVE CONTRIBUTION, RURAL, RURAL AREAS, RURAL POOR, RURAL POVERTY, RURAL POVERTY REDUCTION, RURAL RESIDENTS, SAVINGS, SELF-EMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE, SOCIAL POLICY, SOCIAL SPENDING, STRUCTURAL REFORMS, UNEMPLOYMENT, URBAN AREAS, URBAN POVERTY, WAGE EARNERS, WAGE EMPLOYMENT, WEALTH DISTRIBUTION, WELFARE IMPROVEMENTS, WELFARE MEASURE,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/04/19354560/pathways-middle-class-turkey-reducing-poverty-boosting-shared-prosperity-helped https://hdl.handle.net/10986/17722
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