As we get older, we become poorer: Income and living conditions worsen, the risk of loneliness and obesity increases – Last Minute Economic News

While Turkey declared 2024 as the “Year of Retirees”, the problems experienced by citizens aged 65 and over were also reflected in the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). According to the “Elderly People in Statistics, 2023” report published by TÜİK yesterday, 8 million 722 citizens aged 65 and over living in Turkey are poor, lonely and at risk of obesity.

According to the results of the income and living conditions survey, the poverty rate of the elderly population was 14.2 percent in 2019, and increased to 21.7 percent in 2023. The elderly dependency ratio, which expresses the number of elderly people per hundred people of working age, was 12.9 percent in 2018, and this rate increased to 15 percent in 2023. It was predicted that this rate would increase to 19.6 percent in 2030 and 25.3 percent in 2040.

The incidence of obesity, which is caused by unhealthy nutrition, has also increased in the elderly. While the obesity rate in the population aged 65 and over was 25 percent in 2012, this rate will be 28.4 percent in 2022. On the other hand, it was revealed that 1 million 669 thousand 270 elderly people live alone.

IT IS SAID ‘DON’T LIVE, DIE’

Evaluating the poverty suffered by the elderly, Cengiz Yavuz, Chairman of the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) Pensioners’ Union, said, “When we compare the wages of retirees in other European countries with the wages of retirees in Turkey, we see that retirees in Turkey are in the last place. We entered the election period and as retirees, we did not receive a response to our demands during this period. Day-saving solutions are produced with promotions and loans. “There is the resource, but there is no intention,” he said.

Stating that an impoverished retirement community has been created, Gönül Boran Özüpak, Founder of the Federation of Retired Persons (EYT) said:

“The elderly were deprived of a quality and humane life due to the intervention of politics. People were forced to constantly turn to cheap prices and eat pasta every day. “While the government should have approached the grievances in a redressal manner, it has impoverished the retirees and put them in the position of ‘Don’t live, die’.”