I really don't get it. I can't see how the swarming masses can make enough money to exist day to day in Istanbul. How do these 10+ million people make enough money to pay rent somewhere and buy enough food to stay alive. What am I missing?

I've often asked myself that question and always assumed that families staying together longer (i.e working children not leaving home until marriage) brings more money into the home to cover the high costs of living in the Bul.

That's my theory anyway.

The answer's quite simple. They don't.
A girlfriend of mine who's the same age as me, a uni grad, works full time, has a 9 yr old girl and a live in nanny from somewhere obscure so she can work. No car, no luxuries, every kuruş is thought about before it's spent. And she's up to her neck in debt.

I think a lot of people ask this question, sadly, without ever getting an answer.

I especially wonder when I go out in for example taksim.
it's not the cheapest place to go out for a drink but on Saturday at least a hundred thousand people pass through it.
Of course this doesn't mean in any way that all of those people go drinking or shopping, but it's still incredibly interesting to see that huge amount of people walk on a boulevard every weekend.

that seems to be the trend, BC and RSA. Your two photos I mean. I saw it also in another thread about wines and I almost felt like a third wheel.

As for an answer, I guess when family members live together, one always manages to keep her/his job when others lose theirs but the goal is for every adult to hold a stable job to make it in Istanbul. Many people live to work so there's not much enjoyment of life for those folks who have to pound the pavement day and night. I know someone who tried so hard to make it on his own and didn't manage to get a decent-paying job for a few years even though he has a uni degree. Finally he landed a good job when he moved far away from the center of Istanbul. Now he has a local job and feels pretty secure. I think most people have this mentality about living/working in Europe or at least close to it and for many unskilled people, there just aren't enough affordable apartments nor well-paying jobs where they want to set up homes. On the surface they may look like they are making it, but as Bodrum Chic cites, they aren't. That goes for any major city/capital in the world where the cost of living is skyrocketing. Here too.

1. In real terms living in Istanbul has never been as expensive as it has now, the currency fluctuations last year induced a price inflation that was nowhere matched by salary increases. It is much tougher on the poor than anyone else. While no official inflation seems good, we all know differently.

2. Actually Istanbul is closer to 15 million then 10 million, of that number, those with any sort of spending power or discretionary income maybe number half a million, the rest pretty much work to live and the rest of the country is even worse off. Nationwide the average Turkish person eats (dinner) out once a year and goes to the movies just as much.

3. As noted above it is all about numbers, the average household in Turkey is 2-3 times the size of that in Western European countries or the US, more hand in the pot make for a bigger (although still meager) household income.

Thank fcuk for a sensible response (off topic rubbish now deleted).

1. Spot on.

2. Spot on.

3. Spot on.

JF