Housing and rent accounted for the largest share of household expenditures in Türkiye in 2025, making up 29.3 percent of total spending, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s (TÜİK) Household Budget Survey published on June 2.
Transportation ranked second with a 20.5 percent share, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages at 17.3 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, the smallest shares in total consumption expenditures were recorded in insurance and financial services at 0.8 percent, education services at 1.8 percent and health at 2.2 percent.
The survey showed notable disparities across income groups. High-income households allocated more than three times the share of their budgets to transportation compared with low-income households. Among the highest income group, households devoted 25 percent of their spending to transportation, 25.7 percent to housing and rent and 12.4 percent to food and non-alcoholic beverages.
In contrast, households in the lowest income group spent 38.7 percent on housing and rent, 29.2 percent on food and non-alcoholic beverages and just 8.6 percent on transportation.
Expenditure patterns also varied depending on the main source of income. Households whose primary income came from wages and salaries allocated 26.4 percent of their budgets to housing and rent, 16 percent to food and non-alcoholic beverages and 21.9 percent to transportation. Meanwhile, households relying mainly on entrepreneurial income spent 25.5 percent on housing and rent, 17 percent on food and non-alcoholic beverages and 25.9 percent on transportation.
Household size was another factor influencing spending distribution. One-person households allocated 41 percent of their expenditures to housing and rent, alongside 14.3 percent for food and non-alcoholic beverages and 14.4 percent for transportation. In larger households of six or more people, food and non-alcoholic beverages represented the biggest share at 23.7 percent, followed by housing and rent at 24.4 percent and transportation at 18.1 percent.
The survey also found that fresh fruits and vegetables were the most wasted food items in households, accounting for 39.7 percent of total food waste. Bread followed with 32.5 percent, while milk and dairy products made up 15.1 percent of discarded food.
