Turkey recorded the fastest growth in U.S. dollar millionaires anywhere in the world last year, according to the 2025 Global Wealth Report by UBS. On paper, it’s an eye-catching statistic: 7,000 new millionaires were added in 2024, bringing Turkey’s total to nearly 68,000. The growth rate—8.4%—was seven times the global average and outpaced wealthy hubs like the United Arab Emirates.
But beyond the headlines, this millionaire boom masks a harsher reality for the vast majority of Turkish citizens. While the rich get richer, ordinary families find themselves squeezed by high prices, eroding savings, and economic uncertainty that no statistic on wealth accumulation can hide.
UBS itself paints a sobering picture. While nominal per capita wealth in Turkey rose by more than 35% last year, this figure is stripped of meaning when set against the country’s ongoing inflation crisis. Once adjusted for the cost of living, real per capita wealth actually fell by 14.6%. And perhaps most telling: median wealth—the best indicator of how the typical citizen is doing—plunged by nearly 21%. For most Turks, life didn’t get richer in 2024. It got harder.
That hardship is reflected in recent warnings from international institutions. In its March 2025 Turkey Economic Monitor, the World Bank described the country’s macroeconomic situation as fragile. Inflation may have eased from its 75% peak in mid-2024 to around 38% today, but the bank warns that real incomes remain under strain and poverty risks are growing. The OECD, too, in its latest outlook, lowered Turkey’s 2025 growth forecast, pointing to weak business confidence and lingering inflation that continues to sap household spending power.
Spend time in any Turkish city or village, and the human impact is clear. Shoppers at local markets grumble over food prices that refuse to fall. Renters dread the first of the month, as housing costs climb. Families that once saw homeownership or a university education for their children as attainable dreams are now cutting corners on daily necessities. The Turkish Statistical Institute reports that the wealthiest 10% of the population now controls nearly half of the country’s income. Meanwhile, the World Bank estimates that Turkey’s poverty rate has risen to about 14.5%—a stark reversal of earlier progress.
Globally, UBS points out that while private wealth rose by 4.6% last year, more than 80% of adults still have a net worth below $100,000. Just 1.6% qualify as dollar millionaires. The rich are getting richer, not just in Turkey but around the world. But for many in Turkey, the celebrated rise in millionaires offers little comfort in the face of daily struggles that statistics too often fail to capture.
