Child labor rate in 15-17 age group: 16.2 percent

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The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the state agency responsible for producing official statistics on Turkey, released the "Statistics on the Child" for 2020 today (April 20). The child population constitutes 27.2 percent of Turkey's total population, according to the TurkStat.

Some highlights from the statistics are as follows:

Child population in Turkey

According to the Address Based Population Registration System results; while Turkey's population was 83 million 614 thousand 362 people by the end of 2020, 22 million 750 thousand 657 of them were children. 51.3 percent of the child population was boys, 48.7 percent was girls.

According to population projections, the proportion of the child population was expected to be 26.6 percent in 2025, 25.6 percent in 2030, 23.3 percent in 2040, 20.4 percent in 2060 and 19.0 percent in 2080.

Proportion of child population by provinces

When the proportion of child population in the total population was analyzed by provinces, the province with the highest proportion of child population was Urfa with 45.3 percent in 2020. Urfa was followed by Şırnak with 42.8 percent and Ağrı with 40.9 percent. The three provinces with the lowest proportions of child population in Turkey were Dersim with 17.3 percent, Edirne with 18.1 percent and Kırklareli with 18.7 percent, respectively.

Population by age groups

When the child population was examined by age group, while 27.9 percent of the child population was in the 0-4 age group, 27.7 percent in the 5-9 age group, 27 percent in the 10-14 age group and 17.4 percent in the 15-17 age group in 2015, 26.9 percent was in the 0-4 age group, 28.7 percent was in the 5-9 age group, 28.2 percent was in the 10-14 age group and 16.2 percent in the 15-17 age group in 2020.

Over 1 million babies were born

According to birth statistics; the number of babies born alive in 2019 was 1 million 183 thousand 652. 606 thousand 861 of them were boys, and 576 thousand 791 of them were girls. 

According to Life Tables, 2017-2019; life expectancy at birth was 78.6 years for total population, 75.9 years for males, 81.3 years for females.

It was seen that the average remaining life span for children at 7 was 72.5 years for total, 69.9 years for boys and 75.2 years for girls in Turkey. For 15 years old as starting working age, the average remaining life span was 64.6 years for total, 62.0 years for boys and 67.3 years for girls. The difference in life expectancy at this age between boys and girls was 5.3 years.

Enrollment rate of children

According to the formal education statistics of the Ministry of National Education; while the net enrollment rate of age five was 67.2 percent in the 2015/'16 educational year, it was 75.1 percent in the 2019/'20 educational year. The net enrollment rate at lower secondary school level was 95.9 percent in the 2019/'20 educational year.

Considered by sex, The net enrollment rate at lower secondary school level was 95.7 percent for boys and 96.1 percent for girls.

School completion rates 

According to the formal education statistics of the Ministry of National Education; when school completion rates by levels of education and sex were examined, an increase was observed over the years.

While primary school completion rate was 97.7 percent in the 2014/'15 educational year, it was 98.6 percent in 2019/'20. While lower secondary school completion rate was 94.1 percent in the 2014/'15 educational year, it was 97.7 percent in the 2019/'20 educational year. Upper secondary education completion rate was increased from 58.8 percent to 70.3 percent.

Legal child marriages

According to marriage statistics; while the proportion of legal child marriages for girls aged 16 and 17 within the total legal marriages were 7.3 percent in 2002, it declined to 2.7 percent in 2020. On the other hand, while the proportion of legal child marriages for boys at the same ages in the total legal marriages was 0.5 percent in 2002, it was 0.1 percent in 2020.

Labor force participation

According to the results of Household Labor Force Survey 2020, the labor force participation rate at the age group of 15-17 was 16.2 percent. When the labor force participation rate was analyzed by sex, while it was 23.4 percent for boys, it was 8.6 percent for girls.

Divorse statistics

According to divorce statistics, the number of couples divorced in 2020 was 135 thousand 22. As a result of the finalized divorce cases, 124 thousand 742 children were given custody.

It was observed that 75.8 percent of the custody of the children was given to the mother, and 24.2 percent to the father.

Causes of children's deaths

According to death and causes of death statistics; the highest number of child deaths at the age group of 1-17 occurred due to external injuries and poisoning. The number of children in the age group of 1-17 who died due to this reason was one thousand 326 in 2019.

877 children died due to diseases of the nervous system and the sense organs, 684 children due to neoplasms, 509 children due to congenital malformations and chromosomal abnormalities.

Infant mortality rate

According to death and causes of death statistics; while the infant mortality rate was 13.9 per thousand in 2009, it decreased to 9.1 per thousand in 2019. When the infant mortality rate was examined by sex, it was seen that the infant mortality rate decreased from 14.6 per thousand to 9.8 per thousand for boys, and it decreased from 13.1 per thousand to 8.4 per thousand for girls between the years of 2009 and 2019. (AÖ/SD)