In 2023, 2 Trillion 693 Billion 497 Million TL Spent on Social Protection

In 2023, social protection spending increased by 108.6% compared to the previous year, reaching 2 trillion 693 billion 497 million TL. Of this expenditure, 98.2% was allocated to social protection benefits, amounting to 2 trillion 645 billion 267 million TL. The largest portion of social protection benefits was spent on pensions for the elderly, totaling 1 trillion 175 billion 190 million TL, followed by health care spending at 809 billion 343 million TL.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), social protection expenditures accounted for 10.1% of GDP in 2023. The share of social protection benefits in GDP was 10.0%. When looking at risk/need groups, it was observed that expenditures for pensions for the elderly had the largest share at 4.4%, followed by health care expenditures at 3.0% and widow/orphan expenditures at 1.0%.

Conditional aid represented 13.3% of social protection benefits. Among conditional benefits, family/child assistance constituted the largest share at 51.2%, followed by disability/handicapped assistance at 17.7% and health care assistance at 13.4%.

Cash assistance accounted for 63.0% of social protection benefits. The largest share of cash assistance was directed to pensions for the elderly at 70.1%, followed by widow/orphan assistance at 15.4% and family/child assistance at 5.4%.

Government contributions made up 39.6% of social protection revenues. Of the social protection revenues, 39.6% came from government contributions, 29.7% from employer social contributions, and 23.9% from contributions by individuals within the coverage.

The number of people receiving salaries under social protection reached 16 million 893 thousand in 2023, an increase from 14 million 851 thousand in 2022, reflecting a growth of 13.8%. The number of salary aid recipients under social protection rose from 15 million 630 thousand in 2022 to 17 million 719 thousand in 2023.