Poverty is not only an economic problem but also forms the basis of multidimensional social crises such as social exclusion and inequality. Therefore, poverty necessitates public intervention. Within this framework, social expenditures are expected to improve individuals' living conditions and reduce poverty through tools such as direct income transfers, education, and health services. This study aims to analyze the effects of social expenditures empirically, one of the fiscal policy tools in Türkiye, in the combat against poverty. Using annual time series data for the period 2002–2023, the study examines the impact of social spending on the poverty rate in Türkiye using time series analysis methods. In the estimated model, the poverty rate is treated as the dependent variable, while social spending is included as an independent variable relative to GDP. Stationarity tests, cointegration relationships, and cointegration regression estimators are used in empirical analysis. The findings indicate that social expenditure has a significant and negative impact on the poverty rate in the long run. Although this result demonstrates that effective and targeted social expenditures are an important fiscal policy tool in the fight against poverty, the high level of poverty in Türkiye and the low level of social expenditures compared to countries with similar economic development levels demonstrate the potential to combat poverty by increasing these expenditures.