Investigation of the perspectives of citizens receiving public social assistance during Covid-19 in Turkey

Abstract

This study was carried out in the first six months of the Covid-19 to investigate the Turkish citizens' thoughts about government-based public social assistance provided by Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations (SASFs) in Turkey. This research is conducted by 401 people covering a total of 1.344 household members. According to the main results, nearly 75 per cent of those who applied for social assistance belong to low income (unemployed and insufficient income). In addition, 56 per cent of first-time beneficiaries and 71 per cent of pre-pandemic social assistance recipients are satisfied with social assistance during the pandemic process. Without any gender and education differences, public social assistance demand is found at the highest level between the ages of 29-40, and the lowest level is at the age of 65+. Interestingly, satisfaction from public social assistance was differentiated according to the marital status of the beneficiaries receiving social assistance before Covid-19. Further from these, SASFs have caught a self-assessment opportunity to correct their deficiency for future similar situations.

Keywords

• citizen
• covid-19
• pandemic
• public social assistance
• turkey