As the world ages, so does Turkey. But figures show Turkey still has an advantage compared to European Union countries. On Wednesday, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) released figures about the country’s population ahead of World Population Day, which will be marked on July 11. The figures highlight that Turkey’s child population is higher than countries in the bloc. Similarly, the country's elderly population also lags behind European countries.

The world population increased by about 1 billion in 12 years, between 1999 and 2011. By the end of 2022, it is estimated that it will reach 8 billion. According to the United Nations population estimates, the world population for 2021 was estimated to be 7.8 billion, with China boasting the highest population at more than 1.4 billion, ahead of India. The two countries and the United States made up more than 40% of world’s total population. Turkey, with a population of more than 84.6 million people, ranks 18th among 195 countries by population size.

The country also boasts a proportion of child population of 26.9%, far higher than European Union countries where Ireland topped the list of countries with highest proportion at 24.5% in 2021, ahead of France where the child population proportion was 21.1%. Turkey was also younger than European countries where the highest proportion of the youth population was in Cyprus, at 13.5% in 2021 while this rate was 15.3% in Turkey.

In terms of elderly population, with 9.7%, Turkey was behind Ireland, which had the lowest proportion of elderly people at 14.9% among European countries. Italy has the highest number of elderly, at 23.6%.

Turkey ranked seventh among European Union countries in terms of the total fertility rate, at 1.70 in 2021, below France, Sweden and Ireland. With an average of 75.6 years for males, life expectancy in Turkey was higher than the world average, according to TurkStat figures. The figure, however, was lower than the average in Europe.