Comparison of Food Inflation Between the 2019-2026 Period and World War II Years
Murat Ongun stated, based on academic data, that recent food price increases have far surpassed the wartime period.
Based on data from İrfan Bülbül's academic study, Murat Ongun compared food inflation in the 2019-2026 period with the years of World War II, stating that today's increase is three times that of the wartime years.
Analysis Based on Academic Data
Ongun based his analysis on index data from researcher and writer İrfan Bülbül's academic study titled The Negative Effects of World War II on Social Life.
Through this comparison, the relationship between the economic conditions of that era and today's price movements was examined.
Changes in the Food Index
It was noted that during the war years, the food index, accepted as 100 in 1938, rose to the 1113 level in 1944, increasing about 11-fold.
These major changes in basic food items were examined in detail to understand the economic conditions of the two different periods.
Red Meat and Bread Prices
Red meat prices increased by 362 percent during the years of World War II, while they surged by 1,456 percent in the 2019-2026 period.
Bread, on the other hand, went up by 250 percent during the war years, while recording an increase of 1,100 percent over the past 8-year timeframe.
Price Hikes in Sugar, Tea, and Eggs
Sugar prices showed a 600 percent increase during the war period, while seeing a 940 percent hike in the last eight years.
Tea prices rose by 276 percent during the war years, recording an 830 percent increase in the 2019-2026 range.
Egg prices increased by 358 percent during the war period, while the price hike rate in the last eight years ranged between 966 percent and 1,367 percent according to different data sources.
Price Increases in Other Products
Rice had experienced an increase of 441 percent during the 1936-1947 period covering the war years.
Olive oil prices, meanwhile, showed a 226 percent increase during the same war period.
Comparative Evaluation of the Periods
The war period, during which about 10 percent of the population was drafted into the military as part of mobilization and global supply chains were severed, was compared with today.
Murat Ongun emphasized the seriousness of the situation by clearly outlining the economic picture between the two periods.
Dimensions of Today's Increase
Ongun compared Turkey during World War II, which drafted nearly 10 percent of its population into the military, with the Turkey of the 8 years between 2019 and 2026.
He stated that the food price increases spread over recent years are exactly 3 times the level of the World War II years.