Say Yes, Winter 2008: Children still at high risk of poverty

Despite improvements, poverty in the wider sense continues to affect a large proportion of the population — particularly children.

Over a quarter of children aged under 15 in Turkey belonged to households still living in food and non–food poverty in 2006, according to the most recent annual study on poverty published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat).

Households living in food and non–food poverty are defined as those unable to meet all the needs of their members for food and other essential items. Children are most likely to live below the line for the simple reason that larger families, with more children, have greater difficulty meeting the needs of all their members. Yet inadequate nutrition and housing, low access to basic health and quality education services and the need to go to work at an early age can damage children permanently by retarding their physical and mental development and exposing them to illness, accidents, violence, abuse, stigmatisation, socialisation difficulties, crime and addictions.

Rural alarm

The 25.23% of under–15s in food and non–food poverty corresponds to almost 5.3 million children. The 2006 figures, which were published on December 26, 2007, nevertheless point to a continuing improvement by comparison with 2005, when 27.71% of the under–15 age group were living in food and non–food poverty.

Alarmingly, however, rural children are now three times as likely to experience poverty as urban children. While the proportion of under–15s living in food and non–food poverty in urban areas fell from 19.51% in 2005 to 13.5% in 2006, the corresponding ratio for rural areas — defined as settlements with a population of 20,000 or less — picked up from 40.60% to 43.63%.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Among the population as a whole, the ratio of individuals in food and non–food poverty was 17.81% in 2006 — down from 20.5% a year earlier. Accordingly, Turkey’s MDGs target of 13.5% by 2015 appears to be in sight, despite the slower rates of growth in GDP and employment witnessed in 2007.

Turkey already appears to have eliminated poverty by the narrowest measure: the proportion of the population living on $1 a day. But all broader indicators still point to a significant level of poverty closely linked to low education on the one hand, and unpaid family employment, irregular employment, self–employment and employment in agriculture on the other.

Percentage of children under 15 years of age living in food and non–food poverty in Turkey, 2002–2006

	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Source: Turkstat
Total	34.55	37.04	34.02	27.71	25.23
Urban	30.59	30.43	24.22	19.51	13.50
Rural	41.10	46.44	49.34	40.60	43.63

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