Turkey’s youth population declined, but still youngest country in Europe

ISTANBUL

Youth aged between 15 and 24 make up 15.6 percent of the 82 million people living in Turkey, the youngest country in Europe, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced on May 15. 

There are 12.95 million people aged 15-24 in the country, TÜİK said.    

The ratio of young men to young women is 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent.    

TÜİK, however, stressed that this young population will drop in the coming decades, decreasing to 14.8 percent in 2023, 13.4 percent in 2040, 11.8 percent in 2060 and 11.1 percent in 2080.    

This ratio was 19.4 percent in 2000 and 17 percent in 2010, according to data.

But the young population in Turkey is still higher than the young population of 28 member countries of the European Union.

The country with the highest youth population in 2019 was Greek Cyprus with 12.8 percent, while the country with the lowest youth population was Bulgaria with 8.9 percent, according to the young population rates in the 28 member states of the European Union.

The southeastern province of Hakkari was the city with the highest youth population in 2019 with 23.9 percent.

Şırnak, another southeastern province, with 22.7 percent, and the northeastern province of Bayburt, with 22.6 percent, followed.

The provinces with the lowest youth population were the Aegean province of Muğla with 12.6 percent, the Aegean province of Balıkesir with 12.9 percent and İzmir with 13.2 percent, respectively.

The youth unemployment rate was 25.4 percent last year, down from 20.3 percent in 2018 and 22.5 percent in men, 30.6 percent in women.    

Last year, the youth employment rate was 33.1 percent, down by 1.9 percentage points versus the previous year.     

This ratio was 43.4 percent for young males and 22.6 percent for young females in 2019, an increase by 3 percentage points and a decrease of 0.8 percentage points, respectively, compared with 2018.

“When youth employment was analyzed by sectors, it was seen that 17.7 percent of young people were employed in the agriculture sector, 28.2 percent in the industrial sector and 54.1 percent of them were employed in the service sector,” TÜİK noted.    

More than half of the young people in the country (56.7 percent) said they were happy last year.    

“Health was the first source of happiness for young people with 52.3 percent in 2019. This was followed by success with 24.2 percent and love with 11.4 percent,” the statistics institute added.     

While 73 percent of young persons were satisfied with their job, 62 percent of them said that they were satisfied with the education they received.    

Official figures also showed that 92.4 percent of all young population had internet access in 2019, down from 93 percent in 2018.

Teens out for four hours as virus rules ease

Meanwhile, Turkish teenagers got their first chance to venture outside May 15 after weeks of partial curfew, under relaxed coronavirus restrictions.

According to an Interior Ministry circular sent to governor’s offices across Turkey, people under 20 and over 14 were granted the chance to go outside on May 15 between 11.00 a.m. and 15.00 p.m. local time.

Many teenagers across Turkey hit the parks and streets while enjoying the sunny weather.