DİSK-AR Report Released: Pensioners' Incomes in Turkey are Being Equalized Downward

Istanbul – A report titled "The State of Pensioners in Turkey: Pension Incomes, Number of Pensioners, and Allocated Resources," prepared by the Research Center of the Revolutionary Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (DİSK-AR), has been published. According to the report, as the number of pensioners in Turkey increases, their share of the economic pie is progressively shrinking, and pension incomes are being "equalized downward."

The research reveals that pensioners and their beneficiaries constitute the second-largest social group in Turkey after workers. As of 2024, pensioners and their beneficiaries make up 18.5% of Turkey's population. With 15.9 million pensioners and beneficiaries, Turkey ranks as the third country in Europe with the highest number of pensioners.

Pension Incomes Are Rapidly Losing Value

The DİSK-AR report presents striking data showing a dramatic decline in pension incomes. According to the report:

• In 2002, the ratio of the average pension to per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 46.4%, but this ratio fell to 29% in 2025.

• In 2003, the average pension was 36% higher than the minimum wage, whereas today it has fallen to 22% below the minimum wage.

• For the first half of 2025, the average pension is stated as 17,252 TL, while the average worker's pension is 17,089 TL, with the lowest pension remaining at 14,469 TL.

Claim that "There Are Too Many Pensioners in Turkey" Is Not True

The report states that the frequently voiced claims that "there are too many pensioners in Turkey" and that the "active/passive ratio is too low" are incorrect. When workers under the Social Security Support Premium (SGDP) are included as active insured individuals, the active/passive ratio is calculated as 1.75 as of the end of 2024. According to DİSK-AR's calculations for European countries, the average active/passive ratio is 1.5.

Pensioner Poverty Forces Them to Work

The inadequacy of pension incomes is forcing millions of pensioners back into the workforce or to seek employment. According to the report, the proportion of pensioners who are either working or seeking work increased from 36.6% in 2002 to 65.7% in December 2024 due to low pension incomes.

Reason for Falling Incomes: Legal Changes

DİSK-AR attributes the main reason for this serious decline in pension incomes to the Social Security and General Health Insurance Law (Law No. 5510) that came into effect in 2008. This law reduced the pension calculation rates and updating coefficients. Furthermore, the share of national income in pension increases was reduced, and only official inflation began to be considered.