ANKARA 

Türkiye's young population fell slightly to 22.6 million, still 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 said on Tuesday.

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.