Turkey's child population fell from 48.5 pct. to 27.2 pct. in 50 years

According to population projections, the proportion of the child population was expected to be 26.6 percent in 2025, 25.6 percent in 2030, 23.3 percent in 2040, 20.4 percent in 2060 and 19.0 percent in 2080.

When the proportions of the child population of 27 European Union (EU) member countries were analyzed, the EU average of the proportion of child population was 18.2 percent in 2020. Among the EU member countries, the countries with the highest proportion of child population were Ireland with 24.2 percent, France with 21.6 percent, Sweden with 21.1 percent, respectively. 

The countries with the lowest proportion of child population were Italy with 15.8 percent, Malta with 15.9 percent and Germany with 16.4 percent, respectively. It was seen that the proportion of Turkey's child population with 27.2 percent was higher than that of the EU member countries.

According to ABPRS results; when the proportion of child population in the total population was analyzed by provinces, the province with the highest proportion of child population was Şanlıurfa with 45.3 percent in 2020. Şanlıurfa was followed by Şırnak with 42.8 percent and Ağrı with 40.9 percent.

The three provinces with the lowest proportions of child population were Tunceli with 17.3 percent, Edirne with 18.1 percent and Kırklareli with 18.7 percent, respectively.

When the child population was examined by age group, while 27.9 percent of the child population was in the 0-4 age group, 27.7 percent in the 5-9 age group, 27.0 percent in the 10-14 age group and 17.4 percent in the 15-17 age group in 2015, 26.9 percent was in the 0-4 age group, 28.7 percent was in the 5-9 age group, 28.2 percent was in the 10-14 age group and 16.2 percent in the 15-17 age group in 2020.

According to birth statistics; the number of babies born alive in 2019 was 1 million 183 thousand 652. 606 thousand 861 of them were boys, and 576 thousand 791 of them were girls. 96.9 percent of the babies born alive were single births, 3.0 percent were twins, and 0.1 percent were triplets or more.

According to the results of ABPRS, the most popular boy names given to newborn babies were Yusuf, Eymen and Mustafa, girl names were Zeynep, Asel and Elif in 2020. On the other hand, it was seen that the most popular names given to children who were in the age group of 0-17 were Yusuf, Mustafa and Demir for boys; Zeynep, Elif and Tülin for girls.

According to the formal education statistics of the Ministry of National Education; while the net enrollment rate of age five was 67.2 percent in the 2015/'16 educational year, it was 75.1 percent in the 2019/'20 educational year.

According to the formal education statistics of the Ministry of National Education; the net enrollment rate at the lower secondary school level was 95.9 percent in the 2019/'20 educational year. When the net enrollment rate was analyzed by sex, the net enrollment rate at the lower secondary school level was 95.7 percent for boys and 96.1 percent for girls.