Seyfettin Gürsel, Gökçe Uysal and Melike Kökkızıl
Executive Summary
According to the European Union standards, two out of every three children in Turkey live in severe material deprivation. In terms of severe material deprivation among children, Turkey falls behind Southern Europe countries as well as countries that are less developed such as Hungary and Romania. Frequency of severe material deprivation falls to 50-55 percent in western regions in Turkey whereas it increases to 75 percent in its eastern regions. Such high shares make it difficult to pinpoint a high-priority target group for policy, hence, Betam has started using a narrower definition of basic material deprivation. According to the definition used by Betam, 24.8 percent of children in Turkey live in basic material deprivation. The share of children living in basic material deprivation falls substantially and rapidly from 2006 to 2010, however there is a small increase in 2011. Child poverty indicates dire circumstances for this as well as the upcoming generations and therefore, fight against to child poverty should move up the priority list among social policies.
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