THE MANY FACES OF POVERTY: A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS ON MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY IN TÜRKİYE

Although poverty statistics serve as crucial economic and social indicators, their measurement varies depending on the chosen definition of poverty. This study examines whether poverty estimations in Türkiye significantly differ based on the definition used and explores which concept of poverty is most appropriate. Utilizing the SILC micro datasets from 2014 to 2021, the study estimates two absolute poverty measures, a subjective poverty measure, and a multidimensional poverty measure. The findings reveal that poverty rates are highly sensitive to the definition applied. For instance, while the updated absolute poverty line from TurkStat identifies less than 20% of the population as poor, the subjective poverty line and the absolute poverty line defined by TÜRK-İŞ classify approximately 60% and 70% of the population as poor, respectively. Furthermore, while 43% of the population was considered multidimensionally poor in 2014, this figure declined to 31% in 2021. A significant concentration of poverty is observed in the Southeastern and Eastern regions across all measurement approaches. Finally, the study conducts a comparative analysis of various poverty definitions by examining trends in poverty rates, the overlap of poor households, regional rankings, pairwise correlations, and the demographic profile of individuals living in poverty.