While the number of retirees increased, the pie shrank

Retirees, one of the country's most important social groups, are making up a growing share of the population. However, the country's inequality regarding retirees is also growing.

DİSK-AR has published its research, "The Situation of Retirees in Turkey: Pensions, Number of Retirees, and Allocated Resources." The research examined the situation of retirees in Turkey and the resources allocated to them. It also compared the number of retirees and the resources allocated to retirees in European countries and Turkey, the active/passive insured ratio between European countries and Turkey, and the share of pensions in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The research also examined the distribution of passively insured pensions in Turkey, the development of pensions since 2002, their relative position to the minimum wage and GDP, the financial situation of the Social Security Institution (SGK), and the losses faced by retirees due to legislative changes made during the AKP era.

According to calculations based on March 2025 data from the Social Security Institution (SGK), there are a total of 16,859,000 retirees and beneficiaries (passive insured). The number of insured individuals receiving old-age pensions is 12,172,000, and the number of beneficiaries of deceased insured individuals is 4,352,000. 72.2% of the passively insured individuals are retirees receiving old-age pensions.

The retired population is increasing

According to the report, the proportion of retirees in the total population has been increasing since 2009. In 2009, Turkey's population was 72.6 million, and the number of retirees and beneficiaries was 8.5 million. The proportion of retirees and beneficiaries in the total population was 11.7 percent. In 2022, Turkey's population reached 85.3 million, and the number of retirees and beneficiaries reached 13.1 million. The proportion of retirees and beneficiaries in the Turkish population was 15.4 percent. In 2023, due to the increased number of retirees with the EYT regulation, the proportion of retirees and beneficiaries in the Turkish population rose to 17.8 percent. By the end of 2024, Turkey's population was 85.7 million, while the number of retirees and beneficiaries reached 15.9 million. There was a significant increase in the number of retirees and beneficiaries following the EYT regulation and the high number of retirees in the second half of 2024, and their proportion in the population rose to 18.5 percent.

The active to passive insured ratio is declining. In 2009, there were 15 million active insured and 8.5 million passive insured. Thus, the active/passive insured ratio was 1.78. By 2022, the active/passive insured ratio increased to 2.01. In 2023, the active/passive insured ratio decreased to 1.66. Due to the increase in the number of retirees following the EYT law, the active/passive ratio decreased in 2024 as well. In 2024, there were 15.9 million passive insured, compared to 25.7 million active insured. The active/passive ratio decreased to 1.61. However, this ratio does not include retirees working with Social Security Support Premium (SGDP), which reached 2.1 million people. When those working under SGDP are included in the actively insured, the active-passive ratio became 1.75 as of the end of 2024. The asset-liability ratio is generally used to express the ratio between employed insured individuals and those receiving monthly or income payments. The report calculated that the average asset-liability ratio in European countries is 1.5. Countries like France, Poland, Italy, and Belgium have asset-liability ratios below the European average, while Croatia and Bulgaria have the two lowest asset-liability ratios at 1.2.

RACE TO THE BOTTOM IN MONTHLY MONTHLY

In 2002, average pensions were 22 percent above the minimum wage and 36 percent above in 2003. Pensions began to gradually decline against the minimum wage and, following the presidential regime that began in 2018, fell below the minimum wage. In 2024 and 2025, the average pension fell 22 percent below the minimum wage. In other words, the increase in pensions far outpaced the increase in the minimum wage. The report noted that this meant that the Social Security Institution (SGK), which received more premium revenue due to the minimum wage increase, paid fewer monthly payments to retirees. Because pensions were not increased by the same amount as the minimum wage, the average pension fell below the minimum wage.

Their share of the pie has shrunk

In 2024, the share of retirees in the population rose to 18.5 percent, but their share of GDP fell to 6.1 percent. The report emphasized that this situation was the main reason for the decline in pensions. It stated that if the share of GDP had increased in line with the increase in the number of retirees, and if the 2010 GDP per retiree payment had been maintained, the share of pensions in GDP should have risen to 10.6 percent. However, the share of pensions in the pie, rather than increasing in line with the ratio of retirees to the population, has decreased. Far less than the resources distributed among 8.8 million retirees in 2010 were distributed among 16 million retirees in 2024. If the 2010 situation had been maintained, the average pension in 2025 should have been over 30,000 TL. However, in the first three months of 2025, the average pension remained around 17,250 TL.

THERE IS AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF WORKING RETIRED PEOPLE

The gradual decline in pensions and incomes following the social security regulations enacted in 2008 is driving retirees to work more. According to the SGK's December 2024 data, around 12 million people in Türkiye receive a pension. Furthermore, according to TÜİK's data for the last quarter of 2024, a total of 4,124,000 people are not participating in the labor force due to retirement. The remaining 7,904,000 retirees are either employed or looking for work. While 1.6 million of the 4.3 million retirees were in the labor market in 2002, as of December 2024, 7,904,000 of the approximately 12 million retirees were in the labor market. The proportion of retirees working or looking for work reached a record high of 65.7 percent.

Since the AKP came to power in 2002, the number of retirees working or looking for work has increased from 1.5 million to 7.9 million.