New figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) have revealed that the average household size decreased from 3.6 people in 2014 to 3.4 people last year. Figures released yesterday, ahead of National Family Week next week, add to concerns over a shrinking youth population.Statistics also indicate that the tendency to have bigger families still prevails mainly in eastern cities, compared to those in the west of Turkey. The province with the largest households was Şırnak with an average of 6.4 people in 2018, followed by Şanlıurfa with 5.6, Hakkari and Batman with 5.5 people. The provinces with the lowest average household size were Çanakkale, Eskişehir and Balıkesir with 2.7 people.
As Turkey strives to promote marriage and curb the divorce rate, statistics show the one-family households or households with families comprising of childless couples, a couple with at least one child or single parents with at least one child decreased, to 65.3 percent in 2018 from 67.4 percent in 2014. One-person households rose to 16.1 percent in the same period. Extended families also shrunk in size, from 16.7 percent to 15.8 percent.
The province which had the highest proportion of one-person households was Tunceli in eastern Turkey with 25.6 percent in 2018. This province was followed by Gümüşhane with 25.5 percent and Giresun with 24.5 percent, respectively. The province which had the lowest proportion of one-person households was Diyarbakır with 9 percent. This province was followed by Van with 9.3 percent and Batman with 9.4 percent. respectively. The proportion of household families making up single parents with at least one resident child in total was 8.9 percent in Turkey in 2018. When it was analyzed in detail, 1.9 percent of total households were single fathers with at least one child, 7 percent were single mothers with at least one resident child.
Families may be shrinking in size but at least they make individuals more happy. The statistics showed that the rate of people who declared that their families made them happy was 74.2 percent in 2018.
Family statistics also delved into how families lived. A section dedicated to information and communication technology use, shows internet usage skyrocketed between 2004 and 2018, from 7 percent to 83.8 percent and households with smart TVs now make up 32.1 percent of the national TV audience. As for income and living conditions, more than 20 percent of individuals were below the poverty threshold or criteria covering expenditures on basic needs such as accommodation and food. While the expenditures on housing and rent had the highest share in total consumption expenditures of households with a rate of 24.7 percent, expenditures on food and non-alcoholic beverages took second place with 19.7 percent and expenditures on transportation took third place with 18.7 percent overall in Turkey.
