The Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) has often stirred controversy over the ways it calculates economic data, and it has even faced accusations of manipulating figures. But the institute’s latest survey shows that even it can no longer mask how poverty has increased and the income gap has widened in Turkey. The results of the TUIK’s 2015 Income and Living Conditions Survey, released Sept. 21, are an omen that serious social explosions could be in store for Turkey as it grapples with unrest and instability both at home and in the region.
Separately, TUIK’s latest unemployment data shows that the jobless rate is back in the double digits, standing at 10.2% as of June. Most strikingly, unemployment among young people, ages 15-24, has increased by 2.8 percentage points in a month.
