Economy of Turkey - statistics & facts

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has classified Turkey as an emerging and developing economy. In addition, Turkey was one of the founding members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and a member of the G-20 from its inception. According to the ranking by gross domestic product, Turkey became the 19th largest economy in the world in 2022 with its GDP amounting to 905 million U.S. dollars. On the other hand, GDP per capita in the country generally followed a negative trend from 2013 and has increased again since 2020. In 2022, GDP per capita in Turkey totaled around 10.6 thousand U.S. dollars.

High inflation is triggered by the currency crisis

Over the past two decades, there have been significant developments in the Turkish economy and industrialization, with the country experiencing rapid growth. However, since 2018, the country has been facing an economic crisis, which was mainly triggered by a combination of the continuous weakening of Turkish lira, an excessive account deficit, a large external debt, and low interest rates. Accordingly, the inflation rate has not fallen below double digits since 2017 and has been surging since the last months of 2021. Moreover, the prices of many consumer goods and services have skyrocketed, as the consumer price index (CPI) of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, hotels, cafes, and restaurants peaked in 2022.

Turkey's trade deficit

In Turkey, the ratio of exports to imports was 70 percent in 2022. Even though both imports and exports increased, the trade balance reached the highest negative value of -109.5 billion U.S. dollars in the same year. Correspondingly, the value of exports peaked in 2022, amounting to over 254 million U.S. dollars. The most exported commodities from Turkey in 2022 were vehicles and vehicle parts (excluding railway or tramway rolling stock), with an export value of nearly 26 billion U.S. dollars.

Labor market and employment in Turkey

Throughout the years between 1999 and 2022, the lowest ratio of unemployment in Turkey was recorded in 2000 at 6.5 percent. Due to inflation and increasing labor costs, together with the recent economic crisis, the unemployment rate has reached 10 percent by 2022. The services sector employed the largest share of people in the labor market, representing 56.5 percent in 2022. Due to the high inflation and soaring living costs, the government had to increase the monthly net minimum wage several times over the years. The minimum wage for 2023 was set to 8.5 thousand Turkish lira, which is twice as much as in the first half of 2021. According to a survey conducted in December 2022, when the latest minimum wage was announced, over 59 percent of the respondents did not find this amount sufficient.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Zeynep Dierks, Jan 10, 2024

Key insights

Real GDP growth in Turkey
5.53%
Ratio of government expenditure to gross domestic product (GDP) in Turkey
28.04%
Annual GNI in Turkey
839.6bn USD
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Share of economic sectors in gross domestic product in Turkey 2012-2022

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