Turkey’s birth rate drops as world population increases
ISTANBUL
Turkey’s birth rate fell to 1.88 per woman in 2019, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported in an update on Turkey’s population data on July 11, World Population Day.
Turkey’s total fertility rate, the average number of live births that a woman gives, fell to 1.88 per woman in 2019 from 1.99 a year before, according to TÜİK.
The day, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues, was established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1989.
The day aims to increase people’s awareness on various population issues such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights.
While the total fertility rate was 1.99 children in 2018, it was 2.07 children in 2017 in Turkey.
This showed that fertility remained below the population’s replacement level of 2.10.
Experts attribute the gradual slowdown in fertility rates to urbanization, a rise in the number of women pursuing education and women’s active participation in the workforce, which indirectly leads to the postponement of births.
Turkey has the highest birth rate in the European continent.
The province with the highest birth rate was Şanlıurfa in the southeast, with 3.89 children per woman in 2019.
The province with the lowest total fertility rate was the northern province of Gümüşhane with 1.33 children.
The total birth rate of Turkey is higher than the birth rates of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU).
In the EU 27, the country with the highest total fertility rate in 2018 was France with 1.88 children and the country with the lowest total fertility rate was Malta with 1.23 children.
According to the latest World Bank data, the world’s total fertility rate was 2.3 in 2018.
Early this year, TÜİK said Turkey’s population was 83.1 million at the end of 2018, with an annual growth rate of 1.43 percent.
Last year, the statistics authority forecast the country’s total population to cross 100 million in 2040.
