Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on income inequality and poverty reduction in various countries around the world.
In 2000, the wealthiest 1 percent of Turks owned 38 percent of Turkey’s total wealth. Today, despite a decade and a half of solid economic growth, the top 1 percent controls around 55 percent of total wealth. In an email interview, Aysen Candas, an associate professor at Bogazici University, discusses income inequality in Turkey.
WPR: What is the rate of income inequality in Turkey, what are the latest trends in terms of increasing or lessening inequality, and what are the main factors driving income inequality?