Turkey income gap between top 20, bottom 20 percent drops in 2010

ANKARA (A.A) - December 19, 2011 - Income the top 20 percent of the households received in Turkey in 2010 was 8 times the bottom 20 percent did, data showed.  The figure marked a drop of 0.5 points over the previous year. In 2009, the top 20 percent earned 8.5 times more than the bottom 20 percent did. Turkey's statistics authority, TurkStat, said Monday 16.9 percent of the population lived below the poverty line in 2010 as 18 percent of the population lived under risk of permanent poverty.   TurkStat said average usable household income was 22,063 Turkish liras (around 11,6000 USD) in 2010.