Turkey: Richest 20% taking bigger slice of pie

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The share of income of the richest 20% of Turkey's population in 2018 rose 0.2 points from the previous year, the country's statistical authority announced Wednesday.

The top fifth of income distribution by equalized household disposable income reached 47.6% last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said in its income and living conditions survey.

The share of the bottom fifth -- the poorest 20% of the population -- stood at 6.1%, down 0.2 points during the same period.

The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality ranging between 0 (complete equality) to 1 (complete inequality) was estimated at 0.408 in 2018, rising 0.003 points year-on-year.

The survey found that wages and salaries held the highest proportion of total income, with 48.5% last year, falling 0.4 points from 2017.

"This was followed by social transfers at 20.1% with an increase of 0.4 points, and entrepreneurial incomes at 18.8%, with a decrease of 0.8 points compared to 2017," it said.