Havva Gümüşkaya
Citizens’ spending is restricted to food and housing. Food and housing expenses alone accounted for 67.9% of low-income households’ spending. The data highlighted how high inflation is affecting the spending of low-income households.
TÜİK has published the Household Consumption Expenditure data for 2025. Nationwide, housing and rent expenses accounted for the highest share of household consumption expenditure at 29.3%, whilst transport expenses came second at 20.5% and food and non-alcoholic beverages third at 17.3%.
However, deepening poverty and income inequality were also reflected in consumption patterns. Low-income households allocated more than twice as much of their budget to food compared to high-income households. Analysis of expenditure categories by income group revealed that the 20% of households in the lowest income bracket allocated 38.7% of their expenditure to housing and rent, 29.2% to food and non-alcoholic beverages, and 8.6% to transport. In 2024, expenditure on housing and rent accounted for 33.2% of this group's budget, having risen by 5.5% in a single year.
In 2025, housing expenditure placed a greater strain on the budget across all income groups. In 2025, housing and rent expenditure replaced transport—which had been the largest expenditure item in the budget of the highest-income group in 2024—as the top expenditure category. The highest-income group allocated 25.7% of their 100-lira consumption expenditure to housing and rent. Transport accounted for 25% of expenditure, whilst food accounted for 12.4%. The highest-income group allocated 63.1% of their 100-lira consumption expenditure to food, housing and transport. Households in the poorest 20% income group, however, spent 76.5% of their consumption expenditure on these three categories.
EVERYTHING IS CLASS-BASED
The distribution of consumption expenditure categories across income groups laid bare the class divide. The highest-income group accounted for 47.2% of total consumption expenditure. Poor households accounted for just 6% of consumption.
The disparity in spending was even more pronounced in education, leisure and culture, restaurants and hotels, and clothing and footwear. When broken down by 20% income brackets, the poorest spent just 1.7% of every 100 lira spent on leisure, sport and culture, whilst the wealthiest spent 60%.
Of every 100 lira spent on education, 78.9% was spent by the rich, whilst just 0.3% was spent by households in the poorest 20% income group.
Whilst the share of food in total consumer spending declined, the share of housing and rent expenditure increased.
FROM BASIC NEEDS TO CHOICE
This shift was particularly pronounced among pensioner households. According to Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data, there were 4,761,155 households in 2025 whose primary income was a pension. These households allocated 74.8% of their consumption expenditure to food, transport, and housing and rent costs. In 2024, retired households spent 25% of their budget on food and 35.7% on housing and rent, whereas in 2025, the share of food expenditure fell to 22.7%. During the same period, the share of housing and rent expenditure rose to 38.7%. The data revealed that pensioners were forced to cut back on food expenditure in the face of rising housing costs.
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Opinion: Prof. Dr. Mehmet Şişman
THE RICHEST SEGMENT THAT MUST CUT BACK ON CONSUMPTION
As the population ages under the ‘disinflationary policies’ implemented in Turkey, household incomes are falling rapidly. It is significant that the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has found that the wealthiest 20% of the population accounts for half of total consumption expenditure. The analysis suggesting that the growth rate of national income is determined by the demand of high-income earners, combined with this household data, highlights the decisive role of the wealthy in the portion of total demand derived from consumption expenditure (2.5 percentage points) in the growth figures announced the previous day. On the other hand, the fact that the lowest-income group allocates nearly two-thirds of their average income to housing (property and rent) and food serves as evidence that total demand has reached a point where it cannot be further curtailed, and that the number of people falling rapidly into poverty is increasing. Given that expenditure on housing, food and transport cannot be curtailed, contrary to the views of some economists, the segment that needs to curb consumption may well be the top 20% of the population. This serves as a reminder that macroeconomic policies must be implemented not only through monetary policy but also via tax and income policies.
A WEALTH TAX IS NECESSARY
For example, to balance consumption expenditure, the state could relieve the 80 per cent of the population—particularly the bottom 20% who struggle to meet their basic needs and the top 20%—by imposing a wealth-like tax on the wealthiest segment. The situation is dire, and the current neoliberal disinflation policy could make it even worse. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to reduce inflation without curbing the consumption expenditure of the high-income segment. The rising rate of inflation in services and transport is a direct consequence of this. The combination of rising poverty, sluggish growth rates and the continuing trend of inflation tells us that the worst is not yet behind us.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titledYoksulun bütçesi eve, faturaya, mutfağa mahkûm: Emekli gıdadan kesti kiraya verdi published in BirGün newspaper on June 3, 2026.
