Turkish retirees among poorest in the world, ILO data reveals

Duvar English

Retirees in Turkey are among the poorest in the world, according to data from the International Labor Organization (ILO), the daily Sözcü reported on Sep. 6. 

Measured by the ratio of retirees' pensions to the poverty line in the country, the ILO retiree wealth index considers any ratio below 50 percent to constitute poverty for retired persons. 

Turkey's ratio fell below half of this ratio, with retirees' pensions measuring up to only 21.7 percent of the poverty line, a number that's 91.2 percent in Egypt and 32.7 percent in Mozambique. 

"Benefit levels in many social security schemes remain below minimum adequacy standards," ILO noted. "As a result, older people in these countries who rely on a social pension for their income are still poor."

Turkey ranked fifth from the bottom among more than 30 countries for which the ILO measured the retiree poverty ratio, with the poorest country, Colombia, measuring only 5.5 percentage points below Turkey at 16.2 percent.

Some 79.8 percent of the Turkish population is registered for at least one type of social security, the data showed, while more than 20 percent of the public lives with no security.

Meanwhile, women with children in Turkey were revealed to earn 30 percent less than women without children, according to the data.