Assignment #1 - Data Management and Visualization

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Are Turks unhappy? (The Case of Turkey with an Economic Perspective)

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Turkey has ranked #79* in The Happiness Index. After seeing this, I started thinking about things that make me happy and made a list out of these things. There are lots of factors that affect happiness, that’s for sure. I listed some concepts from my perspective below:

  • Feeling Unsafe: As a woman, it’s important to feel safe whenever I go back to my home anytime from anywhere. But I don’t. The news is filled with rape and murder and men that get away with murder. These are the major facts that made me unhappy and feel unsafe.
  • Freedom: Turkey is listed on Not Free Countries**. No other description is required.
  • Gender Equality: Sadly, gender stereotypes are common in Turkey, In the countryside, some of the men think women shouldn’t work and stay at home in order to take care of the children, which is also a mindset that doesn’t belong to 2019.
  • Income Equality: The rich are getting rich while the poor are getting poor according to the statistics in Turkey.
  • Lack of Green: Istanbul is a city with 20 million people, and there are not enough green places including parks for these people. Green makes people peaceful. Maybe that’s why people are tense here.
  • Religion Freedom: Discrimination and lack of opportunity if you are not a part of the largest religion.
  • Merit: The news has shown that if you know someone from an important place, you can be whatever you want.
  • Technological Development: Turkey is dependent on foreign countries for technological products.
  • Work-Life Balance: Working hours are really long, but more importantly getting back to home more exhausting. I spent 15 hours on the way every week.
  • Purchase Power of Money: Dependence on foreign products make it harder to control the exchange rates.
  • Taxation:  70% of Turkey's tax revenue is composed of indirect taxes. Indirect tax is also known as the injustice taxation for the poor.
Reference:

* https://countryeconomy.com/demography/world-happiness-index/turkey

** https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world-2018-table-country-scores