Country’s life expectancy rises to 78.5 years: Official data

ANKARA

Locals and visitors stroll along the Üsküdar promenade in Istanbul as the historic Maiden’s Tower is seen in the background.

Life expectancy at birth in Türkiye increased to 78.5 years in the 2023-2025 period, up from 78.1 years a year earlier, with women expected to live more than five years longer than men, according to new figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

Türkiye’s average life expectancy at birth reached 78.5 years, reflecting a modest improvement from the previous 2022-2024 reporting period, TÜİK said in its latest statistics.

The data showed that men are expected to live an average of 75.9 years, while women have a life expectancy of 81.1 years, leaving a gender gap of 5.2 years in favor of women.

Remaining life expectancy also varied across age groups. A 15-year-old in Türkiye is expected to live another 64.7 years on average, including 62.1 years for males and 67.3 years for females. At age 30, the average remaining lifespan stands at 50.3 years, declining to 31.3 years at age 50 and 18.4 years at age 65.

Among people aged 65, women are expected to live an average of 20 more years, compared with 16.7 years for men, maintaining a longevity advantage of 3.3 years.

The statistics also highlighted a strong link between education and longevity. Higher educational attainment was associated with longer life expectancy across all age groups and for both sexes. For 30-year-old men, the gap in expected lifespan between those with below-secondary education and university graduates reached 5.1 years, while the difference for women was 4.6 years.

TÜİK also reported that healthy life expectancy — defined as the number of years a person is expected to live without health problems that limit daily activities — stood at 58 years at birth.

Men were expected to spend an average of 59.1 years in good health, compared with 56.9 years for women, indicating that although women live longer overall, men are projected to enjoy 2.2 more years of healthy life.