Hi Team01!
In our meeting, you asked about minimum pension in Turkey, so this post is regarding to that question.
The minimum monthly retirement pension in Turkey is 14,469 TRY, equals to approximately 2,430 CNY.
If you ask me, most of retired old people getting this pension have difficulties in sense of affording their daily needs, rents if they dont own a flat.
1-Bedroom Apartment (Outside City Center): The rent for a modest apartment outside a city center can start around 13,000−15,000 TRY and go much higher, depending on the city and district.
The Reality: If a retiree has to pay market-rate rent, the 14,469 TRY minimum pension is almost entirely consumed by rent alone, leaving virtually nothing for food, utilities, or medicine.
The elderly who survive on this income are likely homeowners (having paid off their mortgage) or live in highly subsidized housing, with family, or in smaller, rural towns where costs are much lower.
It might go like if a retiree owns a place, or do not have to pay any rent:
Utilities (Basic) = ∼2,000−2,500 TRY (Electric, water, gas)
Monthly Transport Pass = ∼1,000−1,300 TRY (For major cities)
Basic Groceries/Food = (For a single, frugal person)
NET REMAINING = ∼1,669−3,669 TRY
The minimum pension of 14,469 TRY allows for a very basic, subsistence-level existence only if the major expense of rent is completely eliminated (through home ownership or family support).
That being said, Turkey has been facing with high inflation rates, leading to high prices. Most of the people have difficulties affording their basic needs, not only elderly unfortunately.
If you have any further questions please let us know.
夏晴
Hello, thank you for the additional details—this information is incredibly valuable to our team. Beyond this, we would further appreciate learning about the elderly demographic’s acceptable price range and weight preferences for the products we are designing. Additionally, we hope to gain clarity on two more aspects: first, the weight of food they typically carry when feeding stray animals, and second, the capacity of the containers (e.g., yogurt cups) they use to transport this food. We are confident that these insights will be instrumental in finalizing the size and material specifications of our product.
filiz
Thank you for the follow-up questions. Here are the brief insights based on the economic realities we shared:
Price Range: The end-user (elderly) often has limited disposable income, making them less likely to buy this product directly. It must be designed as a low-cost item, ideally within the 150-200 TRY (approx. 25.17 – 33.56 CNY) range. This price point would make it viable for municipalities or charities to purchase in bulk and distribute for free.
Product Weight: It must be extremely lightweight. The user is elderly and should only feel the weight of the food, not the container.
Capacity / Food Weight: Users typically repurpose 1.5kg to 2kg yogurt containers. Therefore, the product should be designed to hold 1-3 kg of food or water (approx. 2L capacity).
We hope this helps define the constraints for your material and size specifications.
Best regards,
yahuiliu柳雅惠
Thank you very much for your further detailed explanation. If there are any further details about the usage habits of the elderly population that we need to understand, we will consult you again. Thank you once again!