Turkey to be part of ‘elderly countries' in coming decades

While the elderly population in Turkey continues to increase, the number of children in the general population is gradually decreasing. This phenomenon demonstrates that Turkey will be categorized as an "elderly country" in 15 to 20 years, according to a survey conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

In 2014, Turkey's population was 77,695,904. Children between infancy and 14 years old account for 24.3 percent of the general population, while 67.8 percent is between 15 and 64 years old, and 8 percent is over the age of 65.

When the general population is examined according to the changes in years, the young population is decreasing due to the decrease in the fertility rate, while the elderly population, which is composed of people over the age of 65, is increasing due to the improvement in the quality of life.

As of 2014, children constituted nearly one-fourth of the general population. There are 18.8 million people belonging to the 0-14 age group and 6.2 million elderly people.

A country's total fertility rate provides a suggestion for the average number of children that a woman can bear during her procreative period, which is the period between ages 15 and 49. In order for a country to renew its population, the fertility rate should be at least 2.1. According to TÜİK's forecast, the fertility rate will decrease naturally, reducing to 1.65 in 2050. However, it will experience a boost in 2075 to reach 1.85. If this scenario is taken as a basis, the population of children will be 21.2 percent of Turkey's general population in 2023, 15.7 percent in 2050 and 14.6 percent in 2075. On the other hand, the elderly population will account for 10 percent of the general population in 2023, more than 20 percent in 2050 and 27.7 percent in 2075.

If TÜİK's forecasts become reality, Turkey's general population will hit around 89,172,088 in 2075, when 13 million of those individuals will be children and 24.7 million will be elderly.