Children represent over a quarter of Türkiye’s population

Türkiye’s young population is making up over a quarter (25.6%) of the nation’s total population of 85.3 million as of the end of 2022, the country’s statistical authority (TUİK) said on Tuesday, Turanews.kz reports citing Anadolu Agency.

The figure was at 22.7 million – 26.5% of the total – a year earlier, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed.

Some 51.3% of that population, which includes people 17 and under, were male and 48.7% female.

Türkiye’s young population is projected to continue to fall, according to TurkStat, to 25.6% in 2030, 23.3% in 2040, 20.4% in 2060, and 19.0% in 2080.

In 1970 the under-18s made up nearly half (48.5%) of the country’s population, then fell to 41.8% in 1990 and 35.2% in 2000.

Still, the proportion of Türkiye’s young population was higher than that of the EU member states, which was 18.1% in 2022.

In the European Union, Ireland had the highest youth population with 23.6%, followed by France with 21.3%, and Sweden with 21.0%.

The lowest rates were seen in Italy with 15.6%, Portugal with 15.8%, and Malta with 15.9%.

Turkiye’s child dependency ratio – the number of children 14 and under per 100 persons age 15-64 – was 32.3% at the end of last year.

Last year, the primary school graduation rate was 98.4%, 96.4% for lower secondary education, and 77.9% for upper secondary education.

The proportion of legal child marriages for young women and men age 16 and 17 within total legal marriages fell to 2% and 0.1%, respectively.

The labor force participation rate in the age A15-17 group was 18.7% in 2022 – 27.0% for males, and 10.0% for females.